The official Weibo account of the Chinese Football Team recently announced that the six matches of Group D in the 2026 AFC U23 Asian Cup Qualifiers will take place in Xi'an from September 3 to 9. This event will mark the debut of the Xi'an International Football Center, a world-class professional stadium, in hosting a major event.

After five years of construction, the Xi'an International Football Center is set to officially open on September 3rd. The inaugural event will feature a match between China's U23 men's football team and Timor-Leste in this 60,000-seat modern professional stadium.

Group D of the 2026 AFC U23 Asian Cup Qualifiers comprises the Chinese team, the Australian team, the Timor-Leste team, and the Northern Mariana Islands team.

Pic from Football China

Three of the qualifying matches will be held at Xi'an International Football Center, while the remaining matches will take place at the East Field of Fengdong Football Park.

The final stage of the 2026 U23 Asian Cup is scheduled to be held in Saudi Arabia from January 7th to 25th, 2026.

Xi'an International Football Center is a Class-A professional football stadium designed and built under the latest standards of FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) and AFC (Asian Football Confederation). It has 60,000 fixed seats and includes two standard outdoor training fields. As the only professional football stadium in northwest China that complies with FIFA standards, it is capable of hosting all international Class-A football matches, except the FIFA World Cup opening ceremony. The upcoming qualifying tournament will be the first international event held at the Xi'an International Football Center since its completion.