Reporter Chen Yong reports On December 30, the General Office of the General Administration of Sports, the General Office of the Ministry of Education and the Chinese Football Association issued the Notice on Printing and Distributing the 2025 National Youth Football Competition Calendar. The joint release of the three departments, which is the first time in the history of China's youth football tournament, and the release before 2025 will allow all youth teams to have more systematic planning and preparation. This calendar can be called a milestone in the governance of youth events in China.

In the past years, most of the national youth football competition calendars have been released separately, and generally speaking, most of the competitions in the General Administration system (National Games, Youth Games and Youth Three Ball Games) have been released separately; The Chinese Football Association will coordinate the schedule and calendar of its events, but sometimes, the calendars of various events under the Football Association are also released separately; And the education system has its own calendar.

In the absence of a unified and coordinated competition calendar, a typical problem arises as a result of calendar conflicts, such as the direct conflict between the 2023 Youth Association and the U17 League schedule, resulting in some teams having to compete separately.

This time, the General Administration of Sports, the Ministry of Education and the Chinese Football Association jointly released the youth calendar, which can achieve good coordination in terms of competitions and minimize the "collisions" between events.

Another important point of the 2025 National Youth Football Competition Calendar is that this complete calendar was released at the end of December, but at least the year before. In the past, in January and February of that year, some events did not release the annual calendar, leaving many youth teams at a loss.

This 2025 junior calendar has been in the making for more than half a year. As early as the first half of 2024, the matter of calendar coordination was put on the agenda and listed as a key task. During this period, the Chinese Football Association continued to coordinate, contact and communicate with the General Administration of Sports and the Ministry of Education, first determining the various youth events in the 2025 season, and then coordinating the time on this basis, such as the time of the core events such as the National Games, which was finalized first, and then the time of other events was set in turn.

It is worth noting that the matches between different age groups also need to be coordinated, for example, the U14 age group should fully coordinate the schedule of the U15 Youth League and the U15 League, and the U16 age group should fully coordinate the schedule of the U17 Youth League and the U17 League.

On the basis of the 2025 event, through one year of operation, the future national youth football competition calendar is bound to be more complete, and the release date is expected to be further advanced.

This calendar is a great way to get a rundown of the junior events in 2025 (for men only, for women, it's easier to coordinate).

Games There are three categories: U16, U18 and U20. The U20 category is not included in the competition calendar for the time being, and it is necessary to coordinate the schedule with the U19 Youth Championship and the U21 League, and the events of these two groups are also not included in the calendar. Events for ages 19 and over are not included because they can be counted as adult events.

Three balls In 2025, it will not be carried out separately, but will be merged into the National Games, that is, the U18 group of the National Games.

YMCA There will be no in 2025, and the next session will be in 2027.

China Youth Football League There are four categories: U13, U15, U17 and U19. Among them, the U13 and U15 groups are three levels: local qualifiers, regional competitions and finals; The U17 group is divided into three levels: the regional qualifiers, the first stage of the finals and the second stage; The U19 group has not yet introduced a schedule and competition system, and the competition will be uniformly registered and organized.

Tournament Pro Club The full name is "Chinese Football Association Youth Football Championship Professional Club Group", abbreviated as U17 League and U15 League. The U17 league is divided into three phases and the U15 league is divided into two phases.

U21 League The calendar has not yet been released.

Tournament key cities The full name is "Key City Group of the Chinese Football Association Youth Football Championship", and there are currently three groups of U13, U14 and U15 in the national competition, as well as regional training camps from U10 to U12.

Tournament Membership Association The full name is "Chinese Football Association Youth Football Championship Member Association Group", with three groups: U14, U16 and U18.

Sports School Cup U15 group.

Campus Soccer High School Finals U17 group.