Annual Work Report of the Chinese Football Association: Review 2024 and look forward to 2025

Reporter Cheng Shan reported On January 9, the second meeting of the 12th Congress of the Chinese Football Association was held in Beijing, Zhang Jiasheng, deputy director of the General Administration of Sports of the People's Republic of China and secretary of the Party Committee of the Chinese Football Association, delivered a speech, and Song Kai, chairman of the Chinese Football Association, made the "2024 Chinese Football Association Work Report" (hereinafter referred to as the "report"). The report summarizes the 2024 of Chinese football and also makes an outlook for 2025.

The report summarizes 2024 as "a year for football to rebuild confidence, get back on track, and start anew." ”

Song Kai said that the Chinese Football Association has comprehensively strengthened the party's leadership over football work, focused on the implementation of the main line of the "Overall Plan for the Reform and Development of Chinese Football", kept in mind the responsibilities and missions of the association in the reform and development of football, gave full play to the advantages of the national system, gathered the strength of the national football work, solidly promoted the reform of key areas of football, vigorously reversed the industry atmosphere, consolidated the foundation of football development, and made every effort to promote Chinese football back on the right track, regroup and start a new long march of Chinese football.

When it comes to specific work, there are mainly the following six highlights:

First, a historic breakthrough has been made in the governance of professional leagues.The referee public comment system has been well received, and the cross-departmental cooperation has achieved remarkable results in cracking down on "fake gambling black", and more importantly, the "separation of management and management" has taken substantial steps: the establishment plan of the Chinese Football Federation has been submitted for approval in accordance with the procedures and will be registered in Beijing around the Spring Festival in 2025.

Second, remarkable results have been achieved in the construction of the national team.The national football team has won two consecutive victories in the top 18, and its spirit has been recognized. The U19 and U16 men's teams performed well against opponents of the same age in South Korea, boosting their confidence in preparing for the 2025 U20 Asian Cup and U17 Asian Cup.

Third, youth football has been steadily promoted.The construction of 16 key football cities and 8 pilot areas for the integration of sports and education in the western region has been accelerated; The construction of 5 high-level reserve talent bases and 50 provincial and municipal men's and women's football youth training centers has been continuously strengthened; The Chinese Football Association obtained the two-star membership of the AFC Elite Youth Training Program, and the Suzhou base was awarded the AFC Youth Academy of the Year.

Fourth, social football is full of vitality.For the first time, the Chinese Football Association won the gold membership of the AFC Grassroots Football Charter, and Tianjin Pengcheng Football Club won the 2024 AFC Best Grassroots Football Club Award. The number of registered players in social football exceeded 500,000, an increase of 160% compared to 2023.

Fifth, the construction of professional talent team to achieve the expected goals.There are 150 A-level coaches, 625 B-level coaches and 1,559 C-level coaches. The total number of registered coaches exceeded 100,000+.

Sixth, confidence in the development of the football industry has been significantly enhanced.More than 7.58 million people watched the three-level professional league throughout the year; FIFA President Gianni Infantino and AFC President Salman met with the main leaders of the association, conveying the high hopes of international organizations for the development of Chinese football; The selection and competition organization of the five home games of the 2026 World Cup Asian Qualifiers Round of 36 and Round of 18 have been highly recognized by the AFC.

It is worth mentioning that when talking about the construction of the national team, Song Kai focused on highlighting the pertinence of strengthening the ideological and political work of the national team, pointing out that when the external public opinion environment was unfriendly and the confidence of the players was low, Zhang Jiasheng personally studied and determined the plan for preparing for the competition, supervised the battle with the team, and commanded the front-line. He also mentioned that after losing to the Japanese team by a big score in the first game of the round of 18, Zhang Jiasheng vetoed the motion to change the coach, led the association to reflect on it and put forward rectification measures, put forward the goal of participating in the competition realistically, and led the national team out of the trough.

The report pointed out that 2025 is the final year of the "14th Five-Year Plan", and it is a key year for Chinese football to accelerate "building a framework and laying a solid foundation". It is necessary to continue to focus on the reform of the three key tasks of youth football, national team construction and social football, and put forward 11 specific work points.

First of all, it is necessary to "strengthen the party's overall leadership over football work".Thoroughly implement the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping's important instructions on football work, continue to improve the new work pattern of "the General Administration of Sports in charge, the Ministry of Education supporting and cooperating, the Chinese Football Association and local football associations, and the relevant ministries and commissions, local party committees and governments".

Secondly, "accelerate the promotion of the 'separation of management and management' of professional leagues".Clarify the list of responsibilities of the Chinese Football Association and the Chinese Football Federation, and fully delegate the organization, management and operation functions of the league to the Chinese Football Federation, so as to jointly build a professional league system with "separation of management and management, clear property rights, clear responsibilities, perfect organization and scientific management".

In terms of focusing on the key task of youth football, it is proposed to "solidly promote youth football to go deeper and more practical".It is required to continue to do a good job in the youth football competition system of the "National Games", "Three Balls", "Youth Championships" and "Championships" in terms of event work; In terms of work priorities, the Chinese Football Association is responsible for completing the construction of national youth training colleges and five regional-level youth training centers, and promoting the construction of youth training centers at all levels in the region in various provinces and cities as required; In terms of system promotion, we will increase the intensity of "going out" and "inviting in" to ensure that national echelons at all levels hold 20 high-quality international competitions every year.

For "further strengthening the construction of the national team", the "Report" mentions the goals of national teams at all levels in 2025: to make every effort to play the top 18 matches of the men's national football team and strive to enter the top four in the group; Strive for the men's U23 team to advance to the final stage of the Asian Cup and achieve excellent results; Strive for the men's U20 Asian Cup and U17 Asian Cup to reach the World Cup finals.

As for social football, the goal is to "innovate and promote the all-round progress of social football"It puts forward the five principles of "taking the integration of work forces as the first priority, focusing on building brand events, taking industry evaluation and access as the basis, taking the construction of football culture as the foundation, and taking the construction of talent team as the key".

At the same time, the report proposes to "attach great importance to the construction of the coach team", focusing on the coaching team that is very important for both professional football and youth football, and formulated "15,000 new certified coaches in 2025, including 10 professional coaches, 150 A-level, 600 B-level, 2,500 C-level, 12,000 D-level, and 280 coaches with special physical fitness and goalkeeper levels." Elite Youth Training B (B+), Elite Youth A (A+) and 70 Youth Training Directors".

In addition, the report proposes to include:"Deepening the reform and development of women's football", "vigorously optimizing the public opinion environment in the field of football", "further promoting anti-corruption and rectification of football style", "vigorously strengthening the brand building of various competitions", "continuing to strengthen the construction of the Chinese Football Association itself" and other key points (see ▶ "What should Chinese football do in 2025?") The Football Association proposes 11 major tasks! 》）。

At the end of the report, Song Kai said that it is necessary to "take the ambition of Yugong to move mountains and the perseverance of dripping water through stones, step by step, and take a new long march of Chinese football".

Subsequently, representatives of local football associations such as Shanghai Football Association, Jiangxi Football Association, Shandong Football Association, Suzhou Football Association, Shenzhen Football Association and other local football associations made speeches, and representatives of China Football Development Foundation and China Student Sports Federation also made exchange speeches.

In addition, the meeting elected Li Zhenjian, member of the Standing Committee of the Party Committee and vice president of Beijing Institute of Technology, as a member of the 12th Executive Committee of the Chinese Football Association, the China Public Security Sports Association was admitted as a member of the Chinese Football Association, and the Beijing Police College and Guizhou Police College added relevant majors to build high-level sports teams.