Reporter Lu Mi reports In 2024, the Chinese U19 men's football team defeated the South Korean team, and the U16 men's football team drew 2-2 with the South Korean team and advanced to the U17 Asian Cup.

At the second meeting of the 12th Member Congress of the Chinese Football Association, Song Kai summarized the achievements of youth training development in 2024 and the outlook for 2025.

Five areas to advance in 2024

At the level of youth training development, in 2024, we will focus on improving the quality of youth training with the construction of key football cities as the starting point, and promote it in five aspects:

The first is to effectively change the concept of youth training. The quality of youth training is related to the future of Chinese football. Under the leadership of the Party Group of the General Administration of Sports, the Chinese Football Association has comprehensively promoted the youth training work from "producing results" to "producing talents". In the same direction, six ministries and commissions, including the General Administration of Sports, the Propaganda Department of the CPC Central Committee, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Finance, and the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, jointly issued the "Implementation Opinions on the Reform and Development of Chinese Youth Football" and "Several Guiding Opinions on Improving Football Youth Training", which provided policy support for improving the quality of youth training, deepening the integration of sports and education, and smoothing the channels for further education.

The second is to highlight the construction of key cities for football development. Focus on improving the national reserve talent training system, relying on traditional football strong provinces and key football cities, to build national, regional, provincial (regional, municipal), city (prefecture), district (county) five-level youth training centers. The pilot project for the construction of a football youth training system integrating sports and education in the western region has been launched. Give full play to the leading role of the governments of 16 key cities, and take the lead in realizing the implementation of the policy of "direct train for elite players to go to school".

The third is to comprehensively optimize the youth competition system. In accordance with the principle of "stable system, reasonable structure and distinctive functions", the youth football competition system with the "National Games" and "Three Balls" Games as the leader, the Youth Championship as the platform for the integration of sports and education, and the championship as an important supplement to the cultivation of reserve talents has been basically completed, and the national youth competition calendar has been unified. This year, the third China Youth Championship piloted the regional home and away leagues, and opened foreign players to participate in high school and college age groups.

Fourth, speed up the construction of youth coaches. Firmly "good coaches grasp youth training" orientation, in building a high-level, professional grassroots youth training coach team to make practical moves, and Beijing Sports University and other 6 colleges and universities to build a football academy, play the role of the main position of college talent training. The "Millions of Talents Project" action plan for coaches has effectively strengthened the construction of football professionals, and the total number of registered coaches in 2024 will increase by 13,441 compared with 2023. Improve the assessment system for licensed youth football coaches, add elite youth training B-level, elite youth training A-level, and youth training director training, and promote the training of youth coaches from the growth of "quantity" to the improvement of "quality".

Fifth, adhere to the international vision of youth training. Broaden international exchanges and cooperation, actively bid for the group stage of the 2025 Asian Cup U17 Qualifiers, and cooperate with the German Football League to carry out the "Dream Bundesliga" project. Implement the "Overseas Training Program for Youth Football Talents", and select men's and women's football teams at all levels to form a system to go to Germany, Romania, Japan, South Korea, France and other places for training and exchange. Recommend and select experts and outstanding coaches at home and abroad to serve as youth training directors of football associations, youth training centers and professional clubs at all levels, and organize elite youth coaches to participate in international exchange training in Japan and the United Kingdom. In 2024, the number of registered elite junior players in the country will be 92,979, an increase of 5,502 from 2023, with a growth rate of 6.3%. There are 1,689 junior registered events, an increase of 1,074 from 2023, an increase of 175%. The number of youth games on the register was 43,042, an increase of 128% year-on-year.

Promote youth football to go deeper and more practical

In 2025, the Chinese Football Association will solidly promote the deepening of youth football, fully implement the "Implementation Opinions on the Reform and Development of Chinese Youth Football" and the "Several Guiding Opinions on Improving Football Youth Training", and focus on cultivating high-level reserve talents with international competitiveness.

In terms of the competition work, we will continue to improve the youth football competition system with the "National Games" and "Three Balls" Games as the leader, the China Youth Championships as the platform for the integration of sports and education, and the championship as an important supplement to the cultivation of reserve talents, and do a good job in the organization of football events in the 15th National Games.

The focus of the work is to grasp the construction of 16 key football cities and 8 pilot areas for the integration of sports and education in the western region, and increase the intensity of work evaluation. Based on key cities, focusing on the national, regional, provincial (regional, municipal), municipal (prefecture), district (county) five-level youth training system, 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 as required by all provinces and cities, so as to strengthen the talent training base.

In terms of system promotion, we will increase the efforts of "going out" and "inviting in", promote the implementation of the second phase of the "Dream Building Bundesliga" project, continue to maintain cooperative relations with the Premier League, French Ligue 1 and the Football Associations of Serbia, Japan and South Korea, and ensure that national echelons at all levels will play 20 high-quality international competitions every year. Focusing on the "Millions of Talents Project", we will continue to strengthen the growth of the number and quality of young coaches.

At the same time, great attention will be paid to the construction of the coach team. Highlight the strategic supporting role of coach talent training in football development. Strengthen the research on the development path of football technology, and complete the construction of the team's technical director and youth training director. Increase the introduction of high-level foreign youth coaches and lecturers, and build a team of full-time coaches and lecturers. Strengthen the construction of technical committees. Gather the joint efforts of talent training, accelerate the construction of football academies with colleges and universities, strengthen the basic role of colleges and universities in talent training, and promote fundamental changes in the training mode of football professionals.

In 2025, it plans to add more than 15,000 new certified coaches, including 10 professional-level, 150 A-level, 600 B-level, 2,500 C-level, 12,000 D-level, and 280 physical fitness and goalkeeper special coaches. 70 new Elite Youth B (B+), Elite A (A+) and Youth Directors were added.