The FIBA Basketball World Cup Asia Qualifiers schedule for today (2026.2.26): Japan vs China, live on CCTV-5.

According to the schedule released by the organizing committee, the Chinese team will face Japan away tonight at 6 PM.

CCTV-5 will broadcast the game between China and Japan live at 6 PM tonight. We invite everyone to watch.

Match Preview

1. Qualification rules: In the first stage group matches, the top three teams from each group advance to the second stage, carrying over all their results. In the second stage, 12 teams are divided into two groups; the top three from each group, the best fourth-placed team, plus host Qatar, make up the 8 teams qualifying for the World Cup.
2. Current situation of the Chinese team:Currently, China is competing in the first stage and has lost two games already, so they cannot afford another loss. Our situation now demands thatwe must sweep Chinese Taipei (2 wins) and win at least one game against Japan (3 wins total) to secure third place in the group and advance. Therefore,losing tonight’s away game to Japan is not an option; otherwise, the chance of advancing drops below 10%.
3. The reality is: winning away against Japan is extremely difficult because Japan has Watanabe and Hawkins. We can only rely on Hu Jinqiu, Zhang Zhenlin, and Zhao Jiwei, focusing on defense and rebounds. We also need to sweep Taipei and maintain a positive point difference, or else we will be eliminated. Personally, I suggest not bringing Zhou Qi and Wang Zhelin again since their performance against South Korea was poor.
4. In summary: winning away against Japan tonight is the only path to survival; sweeping Taipei is the minimum requirement; otherwise, it’s basically goodbye to the 2027 World Cup.
5. What do you all think? After losing twice to South Korea, can the current Chinese men’s basketball team accomplish the above tasks?