The direction of China's youth training grand review: breaking traditional boundaries, multiple integrations for joint development

Reporter Chen Yong reporting from Dingnan, Jiangxi The first China-Korea Youth Football Elite Challenge includes nine professional club youth training teams and three sports system teams: Guizhou Youth Training Center, Ganzhou Youth Training Center, and Xi’an Sports School.

At the professional club youth training level, Zhejiang Greentown Youth Training is similar yet distinct from Evergrande Football School; Haigang evolved from the Genbao Base, later establishing its own youth training system while maintaining deep cooperation with Genbao Base; Sanzhen and Chengdu Football Association share a model transitioning from sports system training to a top professional club; Henan and Xin Pengcheng are currently refining their youth training systems; the other two professional clubs, Dingnan Ganlian and Dingnan Youth Training Center, have deeply integrated, while Guangdong Mintu represents a fusion of four different models.

In September 2015, the inaugural Football School Alliance Cup was held, founded by the four major football schools: Luneng, Greentown, Evergrande, and R&F Football Schools, representing the highest standard of China’s youth training. To this day, Luneng, Greentown, and Evergrande Football Schools remain core pillars of China’s youth training.

However, after ten years, the youth training system has undergone profound changes: professional club training, sports system training, social organization training, and school football training are undergoing triple and even quadruple integration, with triple integration becoming mainstream and quadruple integration emerging as the future trend.

Among the 12 local teams competing in Dingnan, Zhejiang, Xin Pengcheng, and Ganzhou Youth Training Center are based on dual models combining school football with either professional or sports system training. On this foundation, the triple integration model has become dominant:

[School Football – Sports Training – Professional Training]

This model has various integration directions. Sanzhen uses school football as a base, guided by Wuhan Football Association's youth training, ultimately evolving into an organic fusion of sports system and professional club training. The 2011 national youth team included five players from Sanzhen/Wuhan FA. Dingnan Ganlian is led by a professional club and cooperates deeply with the sports system to develop school football. Henan is currently improving its youth training system and is among China’s best-developed social youth training provinces.

[School Football – Social Training – Professional Training]

Haigang is based on school football and started from the Genbao Base. After professional transformation, it established its own professional youth training system, while maintaining close cooperation with Genbao Base and Shanghai Yangpu Sports School.

[School Football – Social Training – Sports Training]

Guizhou Youth Training Center is a joint effort by Guizhou Sports Bureau, Guiyang Zhuifeng Youngsters (a social training organization started by a parents’ committee), and Guiyang No.1 Li Duanfen Middle School. Their team performed well in this China-Korea challenge. Evergrande Football School, traditionally categorized as a professional training system, won both the U15 and U17 league championships in 2025. Despite losing professional club backing, they plan to cooperate deeply with Guangdong Sports Bureau, fitting into this model.

Rongcheng and Sanzhen share a very similar development path, differing only in that Chengdu Football Association collaborates closely with Derui Football Training Center, effectively creating a government-led quadruple integration model of “school football – sports training – social training – professional training.” The 2011 national youth team included four players from Rongcheng/Chengdu FA (Derui Football Training Center). Xi’an Youth Training Center is also moving toward quadruple integration, involving Xi’an Sports Bureau, Xi’an Football Association, Xi’an Sports School, and the social training organization Shaanxi Qinying Club, which has close ties with the China League One team Shaanxi United.

This government-led model, whether Wuhan’s triple integration, Chengdu’s quadruple integration, or Xi’an’s approach toward quadruple integration, is fundamentally based on current national policies and represents a proactive government guiding an effective market model.

Another model is an effective market leading to proactive government involvement. Founded in 2019, Mintu Club started purely as a social youth training organization. Over more than five years, they built a series of teams from U7 to U13. Investor Wang Gang said the club’s founding purpose was first a dream, and second to enter the professional ranks within ten years. In 2024, Guangdong Sports Bureau and Football Association deeply cooperated with Mintu. Their 2007/2008 age group team joined the club to compete in the China League Two, winning third place, and achieved promotion to professional leagues ahead of schedule in 2025. Mintu’s U15 team (2010 age group) won runner-up in the 2025 China Youth League boys’ U15 category.

Similar domestic examples include Nantong Haimen Kedi Yuan and Xinghui Youth Training Academy (Hubei Qingnianxing). Kedi Yuan was founded in 2011, initially cooperating with Nantong Haimen District Education and Sports Bureau but remained a social training organization. It officially formed a senior team in 2019, won runner-up in China League Two in 2021, competed in China League One in 2022, and reached the championship group in 2024 and 2025 seasons, ranking sixth in 2025. Notably, the Nantong team, mainly formed from Kedi Yuan’s youth squads, won the Jiangsu Super League runner-up.

Xinghui Youth Training Academy was founded in 2017, focusing on elite training starting from the 2005 age group. In 2019, that team won the Chinese Football Association U14 Championship Cup. By the end of 2020, they deeply cooperated with Hubei Sports Bureau and Football Association, joining Chufeng Heli Club and renaming to Hubei Qingnianxing, subsequently competing continuously in China League One. Their cooperation achievements include winning the 2025 National Games U20 championship (same 2005 age group) and the 2009 age group earning runner-up in the National Games boys’ U16 category. Hubei also integrates elite training forces including Sanzhen.

Whether government-led or social organizations first with government support, this quadruple integration and diversified development model is increasingly emerging. Established professional youth training institutions like Evergrande Football School have begun cooperating with Guangdong Sports Bureau, and Luneng Football School, which already undertakes multi-age group provincial sports bureau and National Games team tasks in Shandong, has recently strengthened deep cooperation with school football.

Though these integration models evolve differently, they converge in fully demonstrating the trend of combining proactive government and effective market forces, with the future focus on clarifying responsibilities, rights, and interests to achieve long-term stable development.