Xi'an, the construction of a key city in national football: radiating five provinces from point to area

Reporter Liu Xiangyu reports Among the 16 key football cities, Xi'an was not ranked high at the beginning, but after a year of work in 2024, Xi'an has promoted the development of football and made qualitative changes, making a big step forward in the construction of key football cities.

The work of key football cities is inseparable from the support of the municipal government, and Xi'an has worked together to clarify tasks and simplify processes, and under the leadership of the Xi'an Municipal Government, it has worked hard to do a good job in football-related work.

The Xi'an Municipal Government clearly pointed out that to vigorously develop football, it is necessary to promote the development of sports in Xi'an with football. This year, Xi'an has set up a special class for key football cities and a special class for youth football at the municipal level, which is led by the leaders of the municipal government. After the establishment of the special class, Xi'an has formulated and issued more than 10 policies and measures of various types, which cover many aspects of football development, including the construction of youth training system, event organization, venue and facility planning, and the integration of sports and education. With policy grasp, all departments will have higher efficiency and stronger synergy when they work together.

Early in the morning of December 17, Xiao Qi, deputy mayor of Xi'an, who is in charge of sports, delivered a speech at the "Re-taking the Long March Road - China Football Development Seminar"; In the evening, Ye Niuping, mayor of Xi'an, also came to the venue to meet with Song Kai, chairman of the Chinese Football Association, and Mayor Ye communicated with Song Kai on issues such as "what to do and what can be done" in Xi'an.

The mayor cares about football and actively looks for ways to show Xi'an's determination to vigorously develop football; The strong support of the government is the premise for the development of football at the local level.

In Xi'an, the key city of football development is not only a signboard, but also a task to be implemented.

There is policy guidance and practical action. Xi'an has established 18 member football associations in the city, realizing full coverage of the city and 13 administrative districts and counties. In order to let the relevant personnel of various districts and counties clarify the work direction of key football cities, on September 12, 2024, Xi'an specially invited Cheng Xu, head of the Youth Department (Football City Office) of the Chinese Football Association, Chen Yong, chief reporter of this newspaper, and other experts and scholars to conduct a comprehensive and in-depth training on the construction of key football cities for the directors of the Municipal Sports Bureau and the Municipal Education Bureau, as well as the directors of sports and education bureaus and member associations of 19 districts (development zones) in the city. Through this training, the education and sports departments at the municipal and district levels have further deepened their understanding of the construction of key cities for football development, and have a clearer understanding of the concepts, goals, tasks and methods of building key cities for football development.

Although Xi'an has a slightly thin foundation, it also has advantages, and the advantage of venues is one of them. Xi'an Sports Training Center is set up perfectly, food, housing, training, rehabilitation as a whole, many national sports teams come here for training and preparation, the center's hardware makes the representatives of other key cities who come to visit envious. There are two 11-a-side standard natural grass fields in the Xi'an Sports Center, and two new 11-a-side fields have been started, and two new 8-a-side fields (one of which is an indoor field) will be included in the 2025 construction plan.

Xi'an's advantage is also educational resources. There are many high-quality colleges and universities in Xi'an, and there are also the best education groups in Shaanxi at the stage of compulsory education. Xi'an Sports Bureau and Xi'an Tie No. 1 Middle School are closely integrated, and the two sides work together to create a channel for sports talents to go on to higher education. Xi'an is jointly led by the sports and education departments, and takes the initiative to connect with the provincial education, sports and other departments, and studies and formulates the "Establishment and Improvement of the Youth Campus Football Talent Training Mechanism", which unifies and standardizes the layout of the "631" talent training school and the improvement of the football specialty students' promotion guarantee mechanism, accelerates and improves the one-stop education security system, and strives to solve the problem of "retirement at the age of 12 and 15".

The highlight of Xi'an is also the informatization construction. In October this year, Xi'an and Beijing Lingxi Sports Technology jointly developed the Xi'an football digital management platform, and the hardware system was installed and debugged and put into use. Xi'an football digital management platform, relying on the youth training digital management system of the Chinese Football Association, benchmarks the 20 types of indicators of key cities in the national football development and the U-series structure of the youth training system, further finds out the base number of various football venues and facilities, grassroots organizations, talent backbones, and event activities in the city, realizes scientific and efficient dynamic management, and realizes the scientific organization of the selection and training of young players, and improves the quality of youth training work.

With government support and basic hardware conditions, Xi'an has made it clear that if it wants to do a good job in football construction, it is more important to have a methodology. This summer, Vice Mayor Xiao Qi led a team to Dalian, Qingdao and Suzhou, three leading football key cities.

Xi'an not only attaches great importance to the development of local football, but also wants to drive and promote the development of football in the five northwestern provinces due to its geographical location.

In September this year, Xi'an hosted the Northwest Youth Football Exchange Tournament, hosting 60 youth football players from Kashgar, Xinjiang, and organizing them to visit the Xi'an International Football Center and historical and cultural attractions in addition to the competition. The invitational tournament provides a platform for young football players from Xi'an and Kashgar to show themselves and exchange ideas, and is a foreign exchange and extension of Xi'an as a key football city.

The young football players from Kashgar and Xi'an competed together and exchanged experiences, and through this competition, they could broaden their horizons and gain valuable experience and friendship. In the future, Xi'an will also radiate and drive the integration of sports and education in the western region and the pilot construction of the football youth training system, enhance the football exchanges between the northwest provinces, stimulate the football vitality of the five provinces and regions in the northwest, tap more football talents, and promote the orderly development of football in the northwest region.

It can be said that in 2024, Xi'an has achieved fruitful results in the construction of a key football city, and has made great progress in organizational leadership, policy support, youth training system, venue facilities, and event activities. Through a series of measures such as deepening the integration of sports and education, holding international competitions, carrying out training exchanges, undertaking important conferences, creating a high-level reserve talent base, carrying out international exchanges, building a digital platform and building an exchange platform between the city and college students, it has laid a solid foundation for the development of Xi'an's football industry.

Of course, there are also some problems that need to be solved in Xi'an, such as the quality of football talent training, the construction of professional football clubs, the development of football industry and social concerns, and so on.

In September this year, the Xi'an Municipal Government submitted the application materials for the regional base to the Chinese Football Association, and actively applied for the creation of a national football high-level reserve talent base. On December 11, the Chinese Football Association approved the joint construction of a high-level reserve talent base for young people in key cities of national football development with Xi'an, and Xi'an officially became one of the five youth training regions in the country.

With the point to the area, Xi'an radiates the northwest, and in the future, this ancient city will have to assume more responsibilities.