The Chinese Football Association organized a youth football training workshop in the city of Wuhan, Hubei Province, on November 4 and 5. The workshop brought together representatives from relevant parties and organizations from across the country to exchange best practices, experience and insights about Chinese youth football training. 

Secretary of the CPC Committee within the CFA and the Vice Minister of the General Administration of Sport of China, Du Zhaocai, emphasized that youth training is the main reason for the failure of Chinese football. 

“Youth training is the key to Chinese football reform and the strategic foundation to develop and make Chinese football successful again. It affects the future of Chinese football. ” Du said. 

According to Du Zhaocai, the Chinese Football Association has been carrying out comprehensive reforms for the youth football training system in China, building five aligned training systems, two types of training centers and creating a youth football league. 

The five aligned training systems refer to provincial and regional sports bureau training systems, city training systems, professional clubs training systems, school campus training systems and grass roots football clubs training systems. 

The two types of training centers apply to domestic and international football training centers. There are currently 29 national domestic training centers in China. The first international training center was set up in the Czech Republic. Three more international training centers will be founded in Madrid (Spain), São Paulo (Brazil) and women’s youth football training in Los Angeles (USA). At the beginning of 2019, a national football training center is planned for Xianghe, Hebei Province. By then, there will be three levels of training centers, i.e. training centers, regional training academies and national training academies. 

The youth football league refers to the National Youth Super League, which is the highest level youth football league in China. The league was jointly launched by the CFA and the National Youth Campus Football Work Leading Group Office in 2017. In 2018, the league includes competitions for five age groups, i.e. U13, U14, U15, U17 and U19 and a total of 274 teams participated in the league. 

Reference: Zhejiang News 

Proofread by Raymond Fitzpatrick