There are 126,000 registered coaches nationwide, yet the shortage of elite youth training coaches is becoming increasingly evident!

Written by Nan Nan While Chinese Football Association Chairman Song Kai issued an open letter titled "Rooted in Youth Training, Great Potential," currently, among retired national team players across all generations, fewer than 200 hold senior coaching certificates and are actively coaching. Among them, national-level coaches who are fully dedicated to grassroots frontline positions for the启蒙年龄段 U6-U12 at elementary schools, county sports schools, etc., are publicly verifiable to be less than 30 individuals. The vast majority are concentrated in professional club first teams, U15+梯队, and management positions.

In January this year, the Chinese Football Association announced at its member congress that the current number of registered youth players in China is 109,200, with a growth rate of 24.88% over the past two years. The association also disclosed that the current number of registered coaches (including five-a-side) is 126,000, with over 16,000 newly certified coaches added in 2025. The Chinese Football Association further stated: it will continue推进 the construction of the five-level youth training system in 2026, accelerate the second phase of the National Football Youth Training Center,配备齐全 youth training directors and core teams... strengthen the cultivation of elite youth training coaches, increase the training intensity for elite youth training B-level, A-level, and youth training directors, and计划新增 18,000 certified coaches at various levels.

According to the Chinese Football Association's目标, by the end of 2026, the number of registered coaches (including five-a-side) in China will reach 144,000, with a nearly 31% increase in certified coaches over two years. With the U23 national team winning the Asian Cup亚军, U-series national team players gradually starting to go abroad for training, and significant increases in both registered youth players and registered coaches, the momentum of Chinese football youth training is明显 rising. However, behind the seemingly impressive data, the structural deficiency in youth training coaches within Chinese football is gradually surfacing. To address this issue, intensifying youth training coach培训 and encouraging retired national team players to投身 the youth training industry could be a viable approach.

▲Data on youth football and coaches from the 2025 Chinese Football Association Annual Report

In November 2025, the National Football Youth Training Center was挂牌 and began operations, forming a network联动 with five regional centers in Suzhou, Shenzhen, Chengdu, Dalian, and Xi'an. By the end of the same year, the General Administration of Sport issued guidelines for the construction of municipal and county-level youth training centers,结合 provincial youth training centers nationwide, to推动形成 a government-led, socially参与,覆盖全域,衔接有序 five-level youth training system.

After the National Football Youth Training Center and the five regional centers formed a network联动, relevant departments also公布 the coach配置 for the five-level youth training centers. Among them, the national and regional centers each配备 one youth training director holding an AFC or other continental federation A-level coaching certificate or higher, and a专职教练团队 including goalkeeping, fitness, and technical analysts; at the provincial youth training center level,同样需要配置 a youth training director with an A-level or higher certificate, and a专职教练团队 of at least 6 members (with 3 holding A-level or higher certificates), also配备 goalkeeping and fitness coaches; municipal youth training centers have a基本配置 of 1 director with an A-level certificate and a 2-person B-level or higher教练团队, 1 goalkeeping coach, with an鼓励配置 of 1 director with an A-level certificate, a 3-person B-level or higher教练团队, and 1专职 goalkeeping coach; county-level youth training centers have a基本配置 of a 2-person C-level or higher教练团队 (can be兼职), with an鼓励配置 of 1专职 youth training director with a B-level or higher certificate and a 2-person专职教练团队 with C-level or higher certificates.

Based on this standard推算, if each province establishes its own youth training centers, the top three levels of youth training centers would至少需要 over 65 A-level or higher coaches. If calculated based on 31省级行政单位 each establishing 8 municipal youth training centers, the demand for A-level coaches exceeds 300, and the demand for B-level coaches nearly doubles. It is worth noting that there are over 2800县级行政单位 nationwide.仅仅 for the five-level youth training centers, the demand for youth football coaches approaches 12,000, including a large number of high-level elite coaches (A-level and B-level). This is still只计算 the five-level youth training centers, excluding职业俱乐部,校园足球, and社会青训机构.

▲The 2025 seventh期 elite youth training coaches专项培训班 held at Shandong Luneng Taishan Football School

Currently, although the公布 registered coach number (including five-a-side) is 126,000, according to the "Chinese Football Association Digital Annual Report,"截至 the end of 2025, the Chinese Football Association registered 238 professional-level coaches, 1,316 A-level coaches, 2,916 B-level coaches. Coaches holding B-level or higher certificates仅有 4,470,占比不到 0.35%. The total number of C-level, D-level, and初级教练员 is 120,763,占比接近 96%.

In fact, such a规模 of elite coaches (B-level or higher) is even难以满足 the demand of the five-level youth training centers. Behind the大幅增加 in registered教练员人数 is the稀缺 of elite教练资源, and most of these elite resources are集中在职业俱乐部 or some管理岗位. A更为残酷的现实 is that even within the数量庞大的 C-level and D-level教练群体, many certified coaches are not任职 in frontline youth training positions.

It is值得一提 that the火爆的城市联赛 in recent years have begun争夺优质教练资源. Some热门城市联赛 head coaches are清一色 A-level coaches. Additionally,部分省级赛事 also require各队 head coaches to至少拥有 A-level coaching certificates, further分流 the already scarce elite youth training教练资源.面对城市联赛泼天的流量,名声,财富,优质教练员 who could下沉青训 are被“截流”. The直接后果 is that grassroots youth training一是缺乏高水平青训总监制定相应层面的球员培养方案,无法完善选材,培养和跟踪流程,优化竞赛体系;二是无法有效开展专业人才培训,导致基层青训精英教练员缺失. In fact,相当部分的市级青训中心 currently普遍空缺 in the youth training director岗位,不少中心被迫降级使用 B-level certificate coaches.

▲As the five-level youth training centers逐步成型, the elite youth training coach缺口愈发明显

In 2025, the "人才培养" part of FIFA's Talent Development Program明确了青训学院的教练员和学员比例. For the U12-U15年龄段, FIFA considers the黄金比例为 1 coach负责 11 players. FIFA also made建议 for coach-to-player ratios for different年龄段球员. U9-U11 is 1:10.4, U16-U21 is较为宽松,通常大于 1:11.同时, according to FIFA data, the top 20 global football associations基本严格遵循 a coach-to-youth training player ratio of 1:11, while普通协会 ranked 51-100 typically have ratios of 1:12.4 or even higher.

Currently, China has 18全国足球重点发展城市 and 6西部地区体教融合足球青训体系建设试点 (hereinafter referred to as "西部青训试点地区"),作为足球青训的重点发展地区,比普通地区拥有更多政策扶持. According to 2026最新数据, a西部青训试点地区 youth training center虽然缺失青训总监岗位,但拥有 a 10-person教练团队,其中 B-level教练员证人数为 4,占比高达 40%,甚至超过相关部门对该等级青训中心的鼓励配置标准.

This center currently has超过 90 players. The coach/player ratio原本接近 1:10,符合 FIFA standards for顶级协会. However, after two B-level coaches were抽调前往城市联赛队伍, the coach/player ratio降至 1:12.4,勉强符合 FIFA standards for普通协会. And this is in a西部试点地区 with政策扶持. The situation in其他地区 is显然更为严峻. Even in偏远地区 of economically发达省份, coach/player ratios通常在 1:30以下,更有甚者低于 1:60.

Among the 126,000 registered coaches公布 by the Chinese Football Association, the 0.35% B-level or higher coaches and the 96% C-level, D-level, and初级教练员 form a巨大对比. On one hand, there are凤毛麟角 elite coaches急需 by职业俱乐部,各级城市联赛, and五级青训中心; on the other hand, there are多达 95,244体量巨大的 D-level grassroots coaches, among whom exist大量没有职业经历,不会分龄教学,不懂现代青训理念的教练.

From体量规模看, B-level coaches are a分水岭. The Chinese Football Association issued a B-level教练员培训班通知 in late January this year.报名学员需完成共计 20 days, 168课时的培训. The Chinese Football Association will根据 C-level培训的实践考试成绩,现工作单位和职务及获得 C-level教练员证书后的执教经历,运动经历以及其他经历择优录取人员.

In fact, the难度 of考取 B-level教练员 also varies across regions. The 2024 twenty-second期 AFC/Chinese Football Association B-level教练员培训 was承办 by the Hunan Provincial Football Association,录取的 24人中 13人来自湖南省足协.

▲The 2025 AFC B-level教练员培训班 organized by the Chinese Football Association at Kunming Haigeng Base

In 2025, the Chinese Football Association adopted a全新的分级评定制度 for provincial football associations. The number of B-level教练员培训班承办 by各级会员单位 also各不相同,部分省份每年承办一两期培训,也有省份承办三期.即便如此, currently with 16,824 C-level coaches, if晋升更高级别教员 through培训班方式,所需时间旷日持久.

In the "湘超" league, whose热度仅次于 "苏超" last year,部分地市全市 B-level coaches不到 5人. The贵阳林城之星俱乐部, which has achieved不俗成绩近年来, has a教练团队 of 160人, with仅 4人持有 B-level certificates. On one hand, there is a巨大的优秀青训教练缺口; on the other hand, there are有限的培训次数和录取人员,以及更高维度上需要考虑的资源平衡,这两者在一定程度上形成了矛盾.

综上, as the five-level youth training centers逐步成型,有关部门更应该清楚地认识到目前我国精英青训教练的巨大缺口,需要依托各级青训中心的硬件配置,加大力度培养青训教练,从根本上改变目前优质基层教练严重缺失的现状.