Centennial Schools Cup: Campus Football "Toulon Cup": High Entry Bar Creates a Grand Campus Football Festival

Written by Nan Nan On August 12th, at Wugang No.1 High School in Shaoyang, Hunan Province, during the 20th minute of the first half of the boys’ football final of the 6th Hunan Provincial Middle School Games, when Yong Haolong converted a penalty kick giving Changsha Yali High School a two-goal advantage, both head coach Xie Chenguang and general coach Zeng Hu thought the game was heading very favorably for their team. However, despite the two-goal lead, their opponents equalized and eventually defeated them in a penalty shootout. Changsha Yali’s opponent, Changsha Lushan International, had just won the runner-up position in the national youth campus football league finals for the high school group a month earlier, demonstrating their undeniable strength. Changsha Yali and Lushan International are long-standing rivals in Hunan Province, with their competition becoming increasingly intense in recent years.

To prepare for the 6th Hunan Provincial Middle School Games, Yali High School participated in the second Centennial Schools Football Elite Exchange Tournament (hereafter "Centennial Schools Cup") high school group competition held in late July. In Nansha, Guangzhou, they faced six strong teams from across the country, each with distinctive playing styles. In the first round of the group stage, they met Hefei No.1 High School, the top team from the Central region in the China Youth Cup, and the two teams, having never met before, played the fiercest group stage match. Thanks to a second-half goal by the tournament’s best player Li Yuening, Yali High School narrowly won 1-0.

After the match, Hefei No.1 High School’s head coach Deng Lei admitted, “We did not expect the strength of the high school teams this year to have improved so dramatically compared to last year.” Last year, Hefei No.1 had a poor performance in the first Centennial Schools Cup group stage and failed to reach the semifinals. This year, after adding new players, they returned with renewed vigor but faced the eventual champions Changsha Yali High School and the South District team Chengdu No.5 High School in the group stage. After losing a fierce battle to Yali, Hefei No.1, exhausted, lost again to Chengdu No.5 in the second group match and missed the quarterfinals. Team leader Xue Shan expressed his regret after the game: “Our draw was a bit unlucky this year; if we had been placed in a different group, we might have advanced. However, competing against strong teams from other provinces, especially those with top national campus football strength, was a great gain for us. Only such high-level matches can truly develop the team.”

Also unlucky in the draw was the host team for the junior high group, Hengyang Chuanshan English School. They were placed in the “group of death” D group, which included the 2024 China Youth Cup U13 champion Yali Foreign Language School, the 2024 China Youth Cup U15 national finals team Jinan Dianliu No.1 High School, and the 2025 China Youth Cup U13 top eight team Southwest University Affiliated Middle School. The strength of this group even surprised Liu Yibing, head coach of Xi’an Tieyi High School, the runner-up of the first Centennial Schools Cup.

Last year, in the junior high group, Xi’an Tieyi High School reached the final but lost to the 2023 China Youth Cup U13 champion Shanghai Jiading Xuhang Middle School. This year, Liu Yibing, who came with higher expectations, after watching the first two matches of group D on the opening day, decisively stated that his previous expectations might have been too optimistic and that they needed to prepare more seriously for each match based on the information gathered in the group stage.

In the inaugural 2024 Centennial Schools Cup, only seven teams participated from China Youth Cup regional competitions or above: in the high school group, Jinan Licheng No.2 High School, Kunming No.1 High School, Hefei No.1 High School; and in the junior high group, Shanghai Jiading Xuhang Middle School, Xi’an Tieyi High School, Chengdu No.5 High School, and Xiamen Jimei Middle School. However, in the 2025 second edition, the number of teams from these higher-level competitions increased to 15: in the high school group, Changsha Yali High School, Chongqing No.7 High School, Xi’an Tieyi High School, Chengdu No.5 High School, Kunming No.1 High School, Taiyuan Foreign Language School, Hefei No.1 High School, Wuhan No.4 High School; and in the junior high group, Guangzhou No.5 Middle School, Yali Foreign Language School, Nanchang No.2 Middle School, Xi’an Tieyi High School, Chengdu Huaxi Middle School, Southwest University Affiliated Middle School, and Jinan Dianliu No.1 High School. This list also includes the champion and runner-up of the third China Youth Cup U13 group (Yali Foreign Language School and Nanchang No.2 Middle School).

With more high-level teams joining, the competitive standard of the Centennial Schools Cup continues to rise. Junior high teams Yali Foreign Language School and Nanchang No.2 Middle School brought almost the entire roster from last year’s China Youth Cup finalists, with only last year’s final scorers Yang Yuqi (Yali) and Wang Zixuan (Nanchang) absent. The high school group’s Yali High School competed with all players from the National Games, and their ability to push the national runner-up (Lushan International) to the brink in the Hunan Provincial National Games final further demonstrates the strength of the teams participating in the Centennial Schools Cup.

The junior high champion Guangzhou No.5 Middle School is a strategic partner of the Guangzhou Football Association in co-developing campus football. As a traditional powerhouse in national campus football and one of the first schools with a football specialty program, Guangzhou No.5 has gradually built a uniquely characteristic campus football system through diversified selection, professional training methods, and participation in multi-level tournaments. Principal Xia Haibo said, “Football is a hallmark of Guangzhou No.5, but in recent years the school has faced unprecedented challenges in campus football. Cooperation with the Guangzhou Football Association helps promote the integration of sports and education to cultivate more outstanding football talents. Winning the Centennial Schools Cup championship has also greatly boosted morale throughout the school.”

Championships are earned through hard work. Even though Guangzhou No.5 won all six matches without conceding a goal, they faced huge challenges in the semifinals and finals. The previous runner-up, Xi’an Tieyi High School, troubled Guangzhou No.5 greatly in the first half of the semifinal. Xi’an Tieyi has long built their team around a three-center-back system, allowing players to fully utilize their strengths within this formation. In the first half, their high pressing made it difficult for Guangzhou No.5 to build attacks, and the northern players’ physicality and strength gave Guangzhou No.5 no answers in positional play. If not for the excellent performance of Guangzhou No.5’s goalkeeper and the missed chances by Xi’an Tieyi’s forwards, Guangzhou No.5’s goal might have fallen in the first half. In the second half, Guangzhou No.5 finally broke through with a stunning left-footed shot from outside the box that curled into the corner.

After the match, head coach Zhao Shaowei admitted that the victory was hard-earned, saying that without that miraculous shot, the game might have remained deadlocked.

The semifinal clash between Yali Foreign Language School and Nanchang No.2 Middle School was a replay of last year’s China Youth Cup final. Although Foreign Language School won 2-1, head coach Wen Fan frequently left the bench to give tactical instructions, showing the pressure this national champion coach felt in this intense match. In fact, Wen Fan had already sensed the strength of the teams in their group during the group stage, frequently shouting instructions during their first match. In group D, four out of six group matches were ultimately decided by penalty shootouts. In the quarterfinals, Chengdu Huaxi Middle School scored a last-minute equalizer against last year’s China Youth Cup runner-up Nanchang No.2 Middle School but narrowly lost in the penalty shootout.

The most captivating aspect of the Centennial Schools Cup is that every participating team carries distinct regional and school cultural imprints. Every pass and tackle reveals different regional cultural traits and ways of thinking. This is the expression of football personality as well as a reflection of match quality. In essence, it is not only a football feast but also a dynamic “football philosophy” seminar. After matches, coaches often discuss tactical details with opponents and exchange football traditions between schools. This intellectual exchange sparked by football is far more beneficial than a mere big win.

After the elementary school finals, Lin Kai, head coach of Nanning Taohuayuan Elementary, admitted that his team was somewhat lucky, and that the technical skills and tactical awareness of their opponents, Zhengshanglu Elementary, were worthy of learning. Zhengshanglu’s head coach Liu Haoyang, in his second year leading the team, told his players after the final that losing was acceptable but “you must show what you have practiced.” Xiamen Renmin Elementary, also in their second year, improved compared to last year, and Jiulong Elementary from Anyuan County, Ganzhou City, which had barely played eight-a-side matches before, also witnessed the excitement of the wider world.

After the junior high competition, Beijing No.101 Middle School coach Shi Lei wrote on social media: “What left the deepest impression on me from the Centennial Schools Cup is that football transcended pure competition to become a carrier of culture, history, and emotion. It made me realize that while winning is a goal in some matches, it is never everything. The priceless victory lies in engaging with a century of history and making friends with outstanding peers through football. On this green field, we play the present, yet connect the past and the future.”

In 2005, the Chinese youth team led by Chen Tao, Zhao Xuri, Feng Xiaoting, and Gao Lin shocked the world football scene at the World Youth Championship. Many may not remember that in 2004, under German veteran Klaus Schlappner, Chen Tao’s team reached the semifinals of the Toulon Tournament and defeated Brazil in the third-place match. Twenty years later, Chen Tao has become the youth training director at Zhangjiakou Ice and Snow Sports School, whose team achieved fifth place in this year’s Centennial Schools Cup. The presence of Zhangjiakou Ice and Snow Sports School has brought reflections on the “3+4” integrated education model to the children, schools, and parents involved in the Centennial Schools Cup.

The “Toulon Cup” once amazed the world football community with Chen Tao’s team, and the Centennial Schools Cup is rapidly growing, striving to become a stage for these campus football children to shine.