A proactive government meets an effective market — Implementation of a long-term plan for youth football

Reported by Chen Yong On December 1st, the launch event for the "Adidas Support for China Youth Football Development Program," co-initiated by the China Football Development Foundation and Adidas, took place at the National Football Youth Training Center. This marks the first mid-to-long-term cooperation plan supported by social forces for youth football since the official inauguration of the National Football Youth Training Center on November 15th, and it is also the largest corporate public welfare support received by the China Football Development Foundation since its establishment.

At the end of 2016, following the requirements of the "Overall Plan for the Reform and Development of Chinese Football" and with approval from the State Council, the China Football Development Foundation was registered with the Ministry of Civil Affairs. Over the past nine years, the Foundation has consistently focused on the foundational projects of Chinese football — including the "Elite Program," national county-level football competitions, popularization of youth football in counties, social football youth training quality improvement plans, and Sunshine Football Fields — effectively strengthening the foundation of football development in China. The current partnership with Adidas will focus on four areas: organizing youth football competitions, overseas training for elite youth players, development of football youth training centers, and upgrading and expanding youth training coaches.

On July 31st, the highest-level football conference in history — the National Football Work Conference — emphasized the need to combine proactive government action with an effective market. Since its founding, the China Football Development Foundation has primarily received government support, but now market-driven contributions are beginning to emerge. The combination of proactive government and effective market is an innovative practice by the Foundation in implementing the National Football Work Conference directives.

Zhang Jiasheng, Deputy Director of the General Administration of Sport and Vice Chairman of the Chinese Olympic Committee, attended the launch ceremony and met with Weigel, Senior Vice President of Global Brand Partnerships at Adidas. He stated that following the National Football Work Conference, the administration has actively implemented the conference spirit by advancing youth training system construction, coach development, and youth competition system improvements. This partnership, focusing on supporting competition organization, talent development, youth training center growth, and coach quality enhancement, will play a positive role in building the national youth training system and cultivating young reserve talents.

The "Adidas Support for China Youth Football Development Program" spans four years and concentrates on four major projects, which correspond exactly to the current key focuses of Chinese football development:

(1) Organization of youth football competitions. In 2026, Chinese youth football competitions will undergo another major reform since 2022, including but not limited to restructuring the Chinese Youth Football League, adding categories to the three major ball sports games, merging the U21 League and U19 Youth League into the top-level U20 League in China, among others. However, grassroots competitions remain the most important, with reforms in youth leagues focusing on this, and many grassroots youth competitions rapidly developing. The project mainly targets the National Youth Women's Football Championship.

(2) Overseas training for elite youth players. This is a key part of China’s youth training system, including but not limited to national teams participating in overseas key tournaments (such as the national youth team's return to the Toulon Tournament), player overseas transfers (like Wei Xiangxin’s move to Auxerre), and hosting more types of international football events domestically ("Panda Cup," "Peace Cup," "Kashgar Cup," "Qianchao Cup," etc.). A plan for overseas talent development in Chinese football will be released soon. The project focuses on the "Young Phoenix Plan" and "Young Eagle Plan," providing overseas training platforms for U15-U16 elite male and female youth players.

(3) Development of football youth training centers. Following the focus on football development in key cities and pilot youth training programs in the western regions, this is another major initiative marking the transition from localized breakthroughs to comprehensive regional governance in Chinese football. The project focuses on providing high-quality equipment support for national and regional youth training centers' U13 to U18 elite youth player training camps.

(4) Upgrading and expanding youth training coaches. This aspect emphasizes increasing both the quantity and quality of youth training coaches to improve the overall training quality of Chinese youth football, especially within the youth training system. Both parties will collaborate with the Chinese Football Association to conduct grassroots youth coach training, select outstanding coaches for overseas advanced studies, and enhance coaching skills while broadening international perspectives.

The governance structure of football is fundamentally based on economic development institutions and social governance frameworks. Regarding the development of Chinese football, the concept of a new type of whole-nation system has been mentioned, with its key point being the combination of proactive government and effective market.

Established at the end of 2016, the China Football Development Foundation was founded against the backdrop of the 2015 "Overall Plan for the Reform and Development of Chinese Football," with an initial fund of 40 million yuan from central government finances and founding donors. The Foundation’s funding comes from two sources: firstly, fiscal funds obtained through the General Administration of Sport’s purchase of public service projects, mainly from central special lottery public welfare funds, reflecting strong government support and leadership; secondly, social fundraising and corporate donations, showing the contribution of many caring enterprises and the role of an effective market as a supplement and support.

The "Adidas Support for China Youth Football Development Program," jointly initiated with Adidas, represents the largest scale of corporate support from the effective market side since the Foundation’s establishment.

This cooperation has received strong backing from the General Administration of Sport, with significance in four aspects: first, it deeply implements General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important instructions on football work and the spirit of the National Football Work Conference, focusing on building the national youth training system and strengthening football reserve talent cultivation; second, it aims to cultivate internationally competitive youth reserve talents by integrating high-quality international and domestic football resources to create a diversified "Youth Training+" model; third, the Foundation focuses on its core responsibilities, combining proactive government and effective market by partnering with a globally renowned sports brand to foster an innovative and sustainable youth training development model; fourth, it is the first mid-to-long-term cooperation plan supported by social forces for youth football since the official inauguration of the National Football Youth Training Center on November 15th.

Wang Xiaopeng, Chairman of the China Football Development Foundation, said in his speech: "This is the first mid-to-long-term cooperation plan supported by an internationally renowned sports brand for youth football development. It is significant in mobilizing all parties to establish a multi-participation and complementary youth training development pattern, promoting a positive consensus and atmosphere across society to care for and support youth football development."

Xiao Jiale, Managing Director of Adidas Greater China, stated in his address: "Through this cooperation, Adidas will empower Chinese youth training by leveraging global premium football resources. Today, I am specially wearing the classic jacket Adidas made for the 2006 World Cup — the 'Football Unity Heart' — hoping more companies will join us in uniting with government departments and football organizations to jointly promote youth football development."

While national teams attract widespread attention and professional leagues remain in the spotlight for fans, the China Football Development Foundation has remained less known since its inception. However, over many years, it has consistently focused on building the foundation of Chinese football.

As is well known, the inaugural "Village Super League" (2023 Rongjiang/Sanbao Dong Village and Meixiang Village Football Super League) received financial support and guidance from the China Football Development Foundation during its initial stage. The thriving "City League" today features many players originating from county-level football competitions. In May 2025, the Foundation signed a strategic cooperation agreement with the Guizhou Provincial Sports Bureau and the Rongjiang County Government to jointly establish a Village Super League Development Fund to continuously support its growth.

County-level social football competitions are a key project of the China Football Development Foundation, starting in 2021. This year, the fifth edition has completed the grassroots and provincial finals stages and is about to enter the national finals. The fifth county-level social football competition covers 947 county-level administrative regions across 31 provinces, municipalities, autonomous regions, and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, accounting for one-third of China’s county-level administrative areas. During the grassroots stage alone, 8,224 teams and 131,829 players competed in 26,298 matches nationwide.

The "Social Football Youth Training Quality Improvement Action Plan" is another foundational project. Launched in September 2024, it focuses on funding social youth training organizations to hire high-level youth training directors, upgrade grassroots coaches’ qualifications, build U12/U13 age group teams, and participate in high-level competitions. So far, it covers over 100 social youth training institutions in 28 provinces nationwide, has trained nearly 3,000 young players, and helped 78 players enter national elite training camps.

From December 7th to 13th, the second "Western Youth Training Cup" youth football exchange tournament will be passionately held in Bijie, featuring U14 football talents from eight western youth training pilot regions competing on the pitch. In last year’s inaugural event held in Wuhan, the Meizhou team swept both the boys’ and girls’ championships, with 22 players honored as the first "Western Youth Training Cup" future stars.

It is well known that while social capital tends to focus more on popular industries, state-owned capital concentrates on infrastructure and public services. Over the past nine years, the China Football Development Foundation has consistently focused on the less popular grassroots areas of Chinese football, dedicating itself to strengthening the foundation of Chinese football. This clearly reflects the Foundation’s responsibility as a proactive government entity. Now, partnering with Adidas, although targeting the four major directions of Chinese football, the focus remains on foundational projects that receive less attention and are more challenging, such as the National Youth Women’s Football Championship, the "Young Phoenix Plan," and the upgrading and expansion of youth training coaches. With the strategic opportunity of the government-led national youth training system reconstruction, it is believed that more enterprises and individuals will join the Foundation’s platform to collectively contribute to the revitalization of Chinese football.