Just one day after President Xi finished his state visit to UK, the king and queen of the Netherland arrived in China at the invitation of the Chinese President. 

His Royal Highness King Willem Alexander and her Majesty Queen Maxima attended the Sport 8 International Soccer Demonstration Class at Shijia Primary School in Beijing on October 25 accompanied by the former Dutch goalkeeper Edwin Van Der Sar.

After the training class Edwin Van Der Sar shared his opinion on several topics, including Dutch football, Chinese football, youth training etc.

Now as the marketing director of Eredivisie side AFC Ajax, Van Der Sar said, “Ajax has attached great importance to youth training programs. We don’t usually pay a lot of money to buy star players but we train young player from an early age. We are renowned for producing our own soccer stars. At the same time we have some state-of-the-art training facilities. Now my goal is to scout more future soccer stars and youth coaches. ”

When commenting Chinese football, he said, "China is very good in a lot of things, but football is lagging a little bit. The sustainability is very important for China in the process of football development. Paying big money to bring foreign players is not enough; more focus should be paid on grassroots development and youth training. China still has a long way to go in football development. I think it is very important for China to invest more in youth training projects and develop an interest for football among young people. 

We strongly value the partnership between China and our country. I think what differentiate us from others is that we have maintained a system for 40 years that is based on cultivating rather than importing. We would like to import the system to China and achieve the same success as we did. The Ajax system will take effect to help youth football development here with the exchanges of coaches ... It will be beneficial." 

Bai Qiang, co-founder of Sport8 said, "It's not enough for children to just practice on campus. They would also need more drills and guidance after school. The philosophy in Dutch soccer academies seems a natural fit in China, since it promotes soccer training as a tool for education, not just for athletic progress," said Bai.

Jeffery Young, Sport8's soccer supervisor, expects that the combination of Dutch know-how and traditional Chinese education will work out very well for China in the future.

"I thought the idea of trying to educate trainers to have the top-down effect on grassroots football was the correct way to do it," said Young.

Source: Tencent Sports and Chinadaily