Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, December 20 (Reporter Yue Dongxing, Gongbing, Xiao Shiyao) This month, the second China Youth Football League (hereinafter referred to as the "China Youth Championship") has successfully completed various competitions. The event, hosted by the Ministry of Education, the General Administration of Sport of China, and the Chinese Football Association, is approaching the goal of having the widest coverage, the largest number of participants, the highest level of competition, and the greatest social influence, breaking down the barriers between teams in the sports, education, and social sectors.
From March to December, there are 18 age groups in this year's Youth Championships, starting from the primary school boys and girls U8, to the men's U19 and women's U18 and women's B leagues. A total of 2,101 matches were played in the second Youth Championship (national finals for junior high school age and above), an increase of 45.6% over the first session. There were 484 teams and 10,584 players in the national stage, and the number of teams and players increased.
"The Youth Championship is open to all young people, so that every child has the opportunity to participate in the competition and show themselves," Song Kai, director of the Youth Tournament Office and chairman of the Chinese Football Association, said in an interview with Xinhua News Agency. "The development of football in the mainland is also unbalanced and inadequate, and it still needs to be done for a long time, but it looks better and better every year, and the children who play football are getting more and more every year, this is hope. ”
The league system is being consolidated, and Hong Kong and Macao teams are participating for the first time
The holding of the China Youth Championship provides a platform for players to grow, and also reflects the organizers' hope to promote the construction of youth competition systems across the country, so as to popularize the population and cultivate elites.
Taking FIFA and UEFA as examples, the World Cup and European Championship held at the youth stage are mainly aimed at encouraging member associations of various countries and regions to form a stable league structure at the age of appropriate players, smooth the upward channel from population popularization to elite training, so that the reserve force will continue to flow, and the stars and strong teams will be passed on from generation to generation.
Similarly, if the Youth Championship wants to achieve sustainable development, it also needs to build a sound local competition system, because the talent is rooted in the local area. In order to get on the stage of the Youth Championships, teams of some age groups must first pass the test of local qualifiers. The "linkage" of the two major event systems is exactly what the organizers want to see.
According to reports, a total of 24 local competition offices organized primary school age events, and a total of 30 local competition offices organized junior high school age U13 group qualifiers, with a total of 280 participating teams and 5,816 players...... Chongqing, Shanghai and other places have carried out multiple rounds of long-term local leagues, and have achieved good results.
In the allocation of places in the men's U13 and U15 national finals, the organizers consider changing the standard from "whether there are local events" to "whether local events are good", hoping to guide local governments to set up home and away events with a long cycle and stable competition system in the junior high school age group through policies, so as to alleviate the phenomenon of "retirement at the age of 12" and allow more young people to play in middle school.
With the expansion of the participation scale, Hong Kong and Macao teams participated in the competition for the first time this year. The U13 and Macau U15 teams of Hong Kong Oriental Football Club participated in the national finals in Shenyang Heping Division and Hebei Xianghe Division respectively, competing with mainland players to learn skills and enhance friendship.
Smooth the channel for talent growth Pay attention to the phenomenon of "retirement at the age of 12".
One of the purposes of the Youth Competition is to break down the barriers between sports, education and society. So, what are the characteristics and trends of professional club echelons, sports school professional teams, campus football teams, and social training institution teams competing on the same field? Can good seedlings develop among the three?
The reporter learned from the Youth Championship Office that the organizers found that in the men's U13 age group, there are only 3 professional clubs in the top 12 teams, accounting for 25% of the top 12, and schools, youth training institutions, and sports schools account for 75%. In the men's U15 age group, there are only two school teams in the top 12, with clubs accounting for 75%, while the men's U17 group of clubs and schools in the top 16 accounts for about half and half.
According to the analysis, in the U13 age group, from the eight-a-side system to the eleven-a-side competition, the school and social youth training institutions are highly competitive, and the professional clubs do not reflect obvious competitiveness. However, in the second and third years of junior high school, the competitiveness of the school team decreased significantly due to the impact of entrance exams and training time. By the high school age, with the physical development of teenagers and the deepening of their understanding of the sport of football, some school teams that hire high-level coaches show a good level of competition, and professional clubs do not leave school teams behind in high school age. This reflects the positive results of the integration of sports and education, and the insistence on attaching equal importance to cultural education and professional training.
"We also think that if the school players can also have high-level training and competitions in the second and third years of junior high school, can there be more outstanding young talents to choose from at the age of 15? Qiao Daihu, executive secretary of the event office of the China Youth Championships, said.
After the construction of the platform of the China Youth Championship, players can show their talents and abilities, and in this process, from the Football Association to clubs, campuses, and youth training institutions, they are discovering and selecting outstanding talents through the competition, and constantly establishing and improving the talent pool. The impressive results of some teams have also attracted attention. For example, the women's U17 group champion of the first China Youth Championship, Jinan Licheng No. 2 Middle School Women's Football Team, won the 2023 World Student Football Championship. The national brand training team formed by the champion and runner-up of the U15 group of the China Youth Championship won the championship in the East Asian Cup Youth Championship in September 2023.
In terms of player training, it is a development idea to establish a platform and channel between campus football and the echelon of professional clubs, so that good seedlings can enter the echelon to receive more professional training and promotion. For example, the two sides can cooperate to build training camps and youth training centers by setting up regular draft platforms, so that club scouts and coaches can find and be willing to cultivate children who perform well in school football.
The organizers also hope to promote the integration of sports and education through the leverage of the event. Yuan Yongqing, Executive Deputy Director of the China Youth Competition Office, Vice Chairman and Secretary-General of the Chinese Football Association, said: "We hope that clubs and schools will strengthen cooperation, the former to provide more professional coaching resources, and the latter to provide better education guarantee for children, so that young people can pay equal attention to Chinese education and professional training, which is the direction and goal of talent training." "Chongqing Youth No. 8 Middle School and Dalian Institute of Technology High School Tornado Team are good cases, clubs and associations provide high-level coaching resources for the school, and the school provides educational guarantee for the children to promote all-round development.
Talking about the phenomenon of "retirement at the age of 12" that has plagued the development of Chinese football, he said that this needs to be systematically solved by the education and sports departments and the Football Association, and the worries of players and parents are dispelled through system design. "We hope that through the long-term, stable and sustainable holding of the China Youth Championships, we can continue to consolidate the youth football culture, continue to gain social recognition, especially the recognition of players and parents, and attract more young people to participate in football, so that more children can continue their football careers in junior high school, and even extend to high school and university. Such a pyramid-shaped talent structure is worth looking forward to. ”
Keep the love of renewing ideas and co-fundraising
Since the two competitions were held, the quality of the competition has gradually improved. However, in the senior national team, which fans are more concerned about, technical stubborn diseases such as fear of pressing, slow pace, and "ineffective return pass + big foot" still exist. Therefore, it is important for players to learn to identify tactical scenarios and understand the principles of the game at an early stage to help them make the right decisions in the future with higher intensity confrontations.
In the Chinese Youth Championships, some youth coaches are also solving these problems in a targeted manner. For example, many teams insist on organizing attacks from the back, trying to maintain possession, and focusing on fast-paced transitions (Shandong Taishan, Zhengzhou Jiuzhong), and these teams have also achieved good results.
The organizers conveyed the youth training concept of Chinese football to the coaches through coach seminars, youth training syllabus presentations, questionnaires and other forms, such as the "five rings" model (technical, tactical, physical, mental and social skills) of player training, youth competitions, training and coaching concepts. Many coaches have gained a deeper understanding of player training through the transfer of knowledge during the event.
"We want every youth coach to realise that their responsibility is not just to lead their children to win a game or win a game as a teenager – but to help these children maintain their love of football and move forward in the future with what they have learned today," said Dai Zhenpeng, the head lecturer of the Chinese Football Association's A-level coach training course.
With the accumulation of experience in organizing the competition, the organizers also saw deficiencies and problems. For example, the work of the local competition office is not enough, and it is generally reflected that the communication between member units is not smooth and the degree of cooperation is low; the time for the organization of youth events is not sufficient, the education and sports departments and the football association hold more competitions, and the teams that need to get results can "change vests" to participate in different competitions; there are few teams participating in local events, and the enthusiasm for participation is low; there is insufficient financial support, lack of special funding support such as venue leasing and medical security, and it is difficult to establish a long-term, stable and multi-level weekend home-and-away league system.
Looking forward to the third competition, the organizers said that they will gradually solve the difficulties affecting the operation of the event by building consensus, improving the communication mechanism, coordinating the arrangements of various events, strengthening the training of referees, standardizing the behavior of coaches, and building brands.
It is understood that the funds for the event are mainly funded by the China Football Development Foundation and self-raised by the Chinese Football Association. In the next step, the organizers hope to further explore the two paths of government and market. For example, the education department, the sports department, and the football association jointly raise funds for the event, and provide certain financial guidance funds for the participating teams and competition organizers in their respective systems to ensure that the construction of the local event system continues to advance. In addition, the three parties also need to take advantage of their respective advantages to continuously expand the attention and influence of the event, attract the market to join the event, and share the financial pressure.