Reporter Liu Xiangyu reports Recently, the Sino-French Youth Football Training Base and the French Youth Research Base in China officially settled in Quanzhou Light Industry Vocational College, the starting city of the Maritime Silk Road and the ending city of Lyon, France, once again joined hands to build a cultural exchange bridge across the Eurasian continent with football as a link. As an important people-to-people cooperation project for the 10th anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative, the base not only carries the professional mission of cultivating international football talents, but also becomes an important practice for China and France to deepen educational cooperation and promote people-to-people bonds.

The international gene of Quanzhou Light Industry Vocational College provides fertile soil for the implementation of the project. As early as 2009, Quanzhou Light Industry Vocational College incorporated "vocational education to sea" into its development strategy. Relying on the advantages of overseas Chinese resources, the university has built 16 "Maritime Silk Road Colleges" jointly built by government, schools, overseas Chinese and enterprises, forming a "Fujian model" for the internationalization of vocational education. In the 2023 ABC China Vocational College Rankings, the school ranks 10th in the country and first in Fujian Province, with about 16,000 students, and its sports operation and management major has become an important fulcrum of this football cooperation.

The project planning highlights an all-round and multi-level strategic vision. In terms of hardware construction, the school will renovate a hotel with a capacity of 500 people as an athlete's apartment, equip it with a training venue that meets FIFA standards, and build a modern security system covering sports rehabilitation, nutritious diet, and data monitoring. In terms of teacher allocation, we have introduced a coaching team certified by the French football youth training system, regularly carried out joint training for Chinese and French coaches, and simultaneously developed a youth football curriculum system with dual certification from China and France. Talent training innovation and implementation of the "dual-track" path: on the one hand, through the selection of outstanding seedlings to go to European professional clubs for further study, on the other hand, the establishment of sports operation and management major (football) to provide students with sports rehabilitation, event management and other vocational skills training, to ensure the seamless connection between athletes' careers and vocational education.

It is worth noting that the project has realized the deep integration of sports youth training and vocational education overseas. Quanzhou Light Industry Vocational College established the "Maritime Silk Road College Vocational Education Research Institute", bringing together domestic and foreign vocational education experts, focusing on the construction of the international vocational education standard certification system, and also opening up a new path for China's vocational education standards to the world. Chen Junxuan, deputy director of the Quanzhou Municipal Education Bureau, said: "The Sino-French Youth Football Training Base, the French Youth Research Base in China and other projects have settled in Quanzhou, which has built a new bridge of friendship between Chinese and French youth, and is also a new starting point for the construction of the Maritime Silk Road Academy. ”

Zong Wa, former deputy secretary-general of the China Education Association for International Exchange, pointed out that the construction of the Sino-French youth football training base and the French youth study base in China carries the deep expectations of China and France in terms of education and cultural exchanges, and hopes that all parties can carry forward the "Sino-French spirit", follow the principle of extensive consultation, joint contribution and sharing, and promote the construction of the base with the concept and standard of internationalization, standardization and specialization.

In the future, Quanzhou Light Industry Vocational College will attract potential young players from Europe and Africa to come to China for professional training by setting up scholarships, studying in China, and providing training opportunities. On the other hand, it also provides players with access to higher education and professional training, ensuring a smooth transition after their football careers.