Interpretation of Song Kai's two concepts: where does Chinese football need stability? Where to open?

Chief reporter Chen Yong reports In October 2023, Song Kai was elected chairman of the Chinese Football Association, and in March 2024, Zhang Jiasheng, deputy director of the General Administration of Sports of the People's Republic of China and member of the party group, served as the secretary of the party committee of the Chinese Football Association. As a result, the Chinese Football Association has established a new leadership team dominated by Zhang Jiasheng and Song Kai.

At present, Chinese football has shown a clear upward momentum at the national level: the national team has achieved results, and the recent results of the top 18 matches have improved; 03 National Youth, 04 National Youth, 06 National Youth, and 08 National Youth have continuously advanced to the Asian Finals. The youth competition is also being promoted in an all-round way, focusing on the integration and improvement of the event as the event is gradually completed. The construction of key cities has also entered the fast lane. The current difficulty in Chinese football lies in the management and healthy development of arrears of professional leagues, and a good news is that the Chinese Football Federation is about to be established, and with the convening of the executive meeting of the State Council, relevant policies are also about to be implemented.

In this process, the dual concepts of stability and non-tossing, openness and internationalization, the Football Association is not only expressed, but also practiced. Specifically, the overall policy of the Chinese Football Association, as well as the competition system for young people, are optimized on the basis of stability and non-tossing; National teams at all levels and key cities in the country's football development have taken the lead in opening up and internationalization, and the same is true for youth coaches. On the contrary, there are many controversies in the openness and internationalization of professional leagues, and it takes a process to promote them.

(1) At present, the league policy remains stable

In 2024, there will be no major, subversive or reverse policies on various matters in Chinese football, such as the professional league policy changes at the beginning of the 2025 season, which are more gradual in an optimized way. The registration list has been changed from the previous 30+5 (30 unrestricted domestic and foreign players plus 5 locally-trained U21 players) to the current 27+8, of which 8 are U21 players and locally developed U21 players, and the important change is that 8 U21 players can move freely between the first team and the B team, and this policy optimization has been widely praised.

The list of foreign players in the Chinese Super League has always been the focus of China's football competition policy. At the previous Chinese Super League meeting, the Chinese Super League provided three plans: one is the 7655 policy that does not change (a total of 7 people are registered throughout the year, 6 people are registered at the same time, 5 people are registered, and 5 people appear at the same time in the game), and the other two versions, one is the negative version, that is, the 6655 policy, which reduces a cumulative registration quota, and there is also a version that increases the registration of foreign aid "5+1" version, that is, 6 people are registered and 5 people play at the same time.

Although there are suggestions and ideas for adjustment, through the vote of the Chinese Super League Council, the Chinese Football Association and the Chinese Super League have fully solicited the opinions of the clubs, and the current opinions of all parties are inclined to 7655 or 6655. Song Kai, chairman of the Chinese Football Association, also has a clear interpretation of this: "I want to open up foreign aid, but there are many objections. Let's think about this matter, unify our thoughts, and take our time. ”

The biggest change in Chinese football in recent times is the imminent establishment of the Chinese Football Federation. In this regard, as early as 2015, there was a clear proposal in the "Overall Plan for the Reform and Development of Chinese Football". In 2019, the preparatory work of the Chinese Football Federation was launched, and in 2021, the preparatory group of the Chinese Football Federation was established and specifically responsible for the operation of the league, but due to the nature, name, registration place and other difficulties of the preparatory group, the Chinese Football Federation has not been officially implemented. The official establishment of the Chinese Football Federation in 2025 will be the implementation of the "Overall Plan for the Reform and Development of Chinese Football", and it will also be the final implementation of the work of more than four years in the past.

(2) Sufficient research ensures that there is no toss

A noteworthy phenomenon is that in the past six months or so, the General Administration of Sports of the People's Republic of China and the Chinese Football Association have conducted intensive research on relevant provinces and cities, key cities and other cities for national football development, and relevant professional football clubs, and actively communicated with foreign countries.

From December 3rd to 5th, 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, led a team to conduct research in Meizhou; Previously, on October 30, Zhang Jiasheng conducted research in Neijiang, and on November 23, Zhang Jiasheng conducted research in Wenzhou; Earlier, Zhang Jiasheng conducted research in professional clubs such as Shandong Taishan and Shanghai Shenhua and more regions and cities; On December 16, Zhang Jiasheng met with Tsuneyasu Miyamoto, President of the Japanese Football Association, in Tokyo, Japan, and the two sides conducted in-depth exchanges on the extensive cooperation between China and Japan in the field of football.

Song Kai, chairman of the Chinese Football Association, watched the U17 league in late October and had a discussion with the coaches of the U17 league; Then there was the national football match in November, during which he also went to Europe for inspection; In December, Song Kai successively followed up and investigated the U16 national team and the U21 national team in Kunming and Haikou around the clock, and had a discussion with the coaches of the U21 league during his stay in Haikou; Before participating in the 2024 China Football Development Forum, Song Kai also participated in the 2024 Chinese Football Association Coaches Conference.

(3) The youth competition system remains stable

This is actually the embodiment of Song Kai's "more down-to-earth" Chinese Football Association. Regarding being more down-to-earth, Song Kai said that the reform of the Chinese Football Association should be acceptable to everyone and reflect the actual needs. Because of more in-depth research and more down-to-earth, the work of the Chinese Football Association has also ensured stability and no toss, such as the youth competition system.

Of course, conflicts are everywhere, such as the national team and the league. According to the news, the national team is likely to add a 10-day training camp during the winter training period, which is also a request from the national team coaching staff. At present, there are still certain problems in the technical and tactical system, including the offensive and defensive level of set-pieces, and it is understandable to appropriately increase the training camp, but the winter training time is shorter, such as about a week, it may be more appropriate, after all, the preparation time of the three major international players in the AFC Champions League Classic is tight and the task is urgent.

In the future, it is more appropriate to maintain the interval between the national team and the league for about 6 to 7 days, on the one hand, there is a certain amount of preparation time, and on the other hand, it is theoretically more reasonable to let the players gradually find the game form in the league continue to the national team.

Openness and internationalization are promoted on the basis of stability and non-tossing, and Song Kai's interpretation of this is very clear. Just like the quota of foreign aid, Song Kai said: "I want to open up foreign aid, but there are many objections. Let's think about this matter, unify our thoughts, and take our time. ”

(1) The opening of foreign aid in the league may take time

As Song Kai said, the more advanced the more open it is, and the more backward it is, the more closed it is. But the timing of the opening is crucial.

Theoretically, regardless of any factors, the league can of course be opened immediately, which will certainly benefit the league and the national team in the long run. However, because of the actual situation of the national team, it may be more prudent for the Chinese professional league to open up on the premise of meeting the following basic conditions:

First, the Chinese Super League should be more stable and healthy, and healthy league clubs will have the confidence to introduce more foreign aid, which may be the reason why the clubs of the Chinese Super League do not agree to increase foreign aid;

Second, the current problematic Chinese League A and the Chinese Second League, its health is also very important, in the Chinese Super League open foreign aid at the same time, a healthy Chinese League and the Chinese B League can bring better training to more young players;

Third, the opening of foreign aid should be accompanied by the expansion of the army, in other words, the jobs occupied by foreign aid should be compensated through the expansion of the army, but the premise of the expansion of the army is the first two conditions, that is, the healthy operation of leagues at all levels.

(2) The national teams at all levels are fully internationalized

Open and international, the league foreign aid is the most concerned, of course, an important component, but not the only component. As far as the current work of the Chinese Football Association is concerned, in fact, it reflects openness and internationalization, such as the intensive contact between the General Administration of Sports of China and the Chinese Football Association at all levels of Chinese football, including continuous contact with Chinese grassroots coaches, showing an open attitude within the Chinese Football Association.

Openness and internationalization are still controversial at the league level, but at the national level, the Chinese Football Association has fully demonstrated the corresponding attitude.

In terms of the coaching staff of the national team at all levels, excellent foreign head coaches have been hired in an all-round way: Ivankovic of the national team, Antonio of the U21 national team, Djurdjevic of the U19 national team, Kenichi Uemura of the U16 national team, Toshi Ukishima of the U15 national team, and David, the head of the coaching staff of the U14 national team. So far, the work of these foreign coaches has generally been good: Ivan has survived three consecutive defeats, and with the full help of the General Football Association, he has achieved excellent results recently; Antonio once led the 04 national youth to return to the U17 Asian Cup after 6 years, and then led the 03 national youth to return to the U20 Asian Cup after 4 years; Djurdjevic had previously performed well in the 99 Asian Games team; Kenichi Uemura's U16 national team successfully qualified for the U17 Asian Cup, and the outstanding technical and tactical performance in the qualifying round against South Korea was extremely exciting.

In addition to the national team to participate in the round of 18, other national teams at all levels, especially the national junior team, frequently visit Japan and Europe to improve themselves through the competition with foreign high-level teams. On November 12, the German Football Federation and the Chinese Football Association jointly announced the official launch of the second phase of the "Bundesliga Dream"! The first phase of "Building Dreams in the Bundesliga" reached a cooperation in November 2023, and from February to March 2024, 08 national teenagers went to Borussia Mönchengladbach, Stuttgart, and Bayer Leverkusen for training and matches, and finally gave birth to two players who stayed in the Bundesliga to participate in integrated training. In the second phase of 2025, the 09 major generals will visit to train and play at two Bundesliga clubs, and as in the first phase, the outstanding Chinese players will have the opportunity to be selected by the Bundesliga team for an additional week of integrated training.

(3) The construction of key cities is fully internationalized

The construction of key cities for national football development has always insisted on hiring excellent foreign coaches, such as its regional youth training center, which can better guarantee the training, competition and inspection of training camps for relevant age groups. During the 2024 China Football Development Seminar, coaches from five foreign clubs came to Xi'an, and Xi'an will also undertake the construction of youth training centers in key cities and regions.

At the same time, the training of Chinese coaches has not been relaxed, and they fully assist foreign coaches, such as Zheng Zhi and Chen Tao of the national team, Huang Bowen of the U21 national team, Wan Houliang, Li Leilei and Dong Xuesheng of the 05 national youth, Pei Yongheng and Li Zhuangfei of the 08 national youth, and Gao Sheng and Cao Yang of the 09 national youth, etc. In addition, up to 10 local coaches participated in the 07 training camp and up to 12 local coaches participated in the 11 training camp.

In addition, in terms of youth coaches, the Chinese Football Association has always adhered to an open and international attitude, Song Kai is also happy to see this, he said, in addition to a large number of local coaches, Chinese football will also introduce a large number of foreign coaches to our professional clubs and key cities of the elite echelon.