The China Teacher Development Foundation(CTDF) and Chinese sportswear brand Anta co-established a campus football coach/teacher education program last week in Beijing. The launch ceremony took place at a specialized football school in Beijing. 

This new program plans to train 1,500 campus football coaches/teachers within a year. From this May, the CTDF and Anta will commence the program at various schools and middle schools across China. The program provide coaches/teachers with theoretical knowledge of youth football training and practical coaching training. Anta is also said to be going to borrow professional coaches from Evergrande FC and other organizations for the program. 

There are already 13,381 acknowledged specialized football schools and 69 football experimental counties (boroughs) in China. There is an expectation and a hope to achieve 20,000 football schools ahead of the plan. The widely-known final goal is to have 50,000 football schools by 2025. Therefore, there is a demand for qualified campus football coaches/teachers. The development and education of domestic Chinese coaches is therefore important. 

Anta have been involved in youth football in partnerships with some Chinese provinces and cities, such as Jiangsu Province, Xiamen, Kunming, Fuzhou and Beijing. These provinces and cities organize youth football events in partnership with Anta. 

The sportswear brand is also frequently involved in sports sponsorship and the endorsement of athletes. 

Source: Dongfang Toutiao

Proofread by Sean O Diobhilin