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Last Wednesday, at the National Youth Games, Shanghai Jing'an were crowned champions after beating Nanjing 4:1. Even though it was the men’s teams playing most of the Jing’an team were made up of players from Shanghai SIPG.

Although it has been less than a year since Shanghai SIPG took over Shanghai East Asian Club, their emphasis was to achieve success in the Chinese Super League and so they never disregarded the club's youth training program. Their goal is to build a stable long-term club so Shanghai SIPG have already set out and implemented their plans regarding the establishment and refinement of their youth training system.

Background

In November 2014, SIPG took control of Shanghai East Asian Club and published their 3 main goals with one of them being youth training.

Since Shanghai SIPG want to build a long-term club, youth training is considered as important as the first team’s scores. Sui Guoyang, general manager of Shanghai SIPG said, “Youth training is a key to keeping a club developing sustainably. A team’s results are directly related to the quality of players. Of course, a club can bring in excellent players, but it is impossible for a club to buy a whole team, therefore youth training can guarantee that the club can bring through young players through the academy.” The reason that Shanghai SIPG had achieved such outstanding success on/off the field this season is partly because of its good personnel structure.

Current Situation

This season Shanghai SIPG have benefited a lot from their successful youth training program. To date, Shanghai SIPG have trained large amount of talented youngsters.

To further improve their strengths, Shanghai SIPG intend to hire experienced foreign coaches to oversee SIPG’s youth training system. They want to hire not only senior coaches, but also assistant coaches to strengthen the quality of the club’s coaching staff .

Future

According to reports, the directors of Shanghai SIPG are personally involved in the plan of building up Shanghai SIPG’s prestigious football academy. They plan to recruit about 300 teenage students, from junior middle schools to high schools to form 30-man squads. 

Shanghai SIPG also plan to recruit talented football students not only from local schools but also from all over China. To attract more talented players, they have also considered the players’ future. They are making plans to make sure that teenage players will not have to worry about their future career.

Talent Retention

Local talent is precious to all the teams in the Chinese football league. Shanghai SIPG said, as long as the young players are good enough, Shanghai SIPG can guarantee that their salaries will also be very attractive.

The general manager of Shanghai SIPG, Sui Guoyang, understands that players have the dream of playing overseas. He said, “To have players trained overseas to improve their football skills is a good thing for both Chinese football and the Chinese national team. However, the value of playing overseas can only be realized when those players have chances to play in real matches in the top leagues.”

Shanghai SIPG hope that the chance for young players to play overseas can be a part of their youth training system. They will send young players abroad to provide them with a better environment for their personal development. Shanghai SIPG are also considering buying a European club so that they can send their young players to train and play overseas. If this happens, Shanghai SIPG will be a very attractive club for young players to join.

Source: Sina, tranlated by Intern at Yutang Sports

Proofread by Raymond Fitzpatrick