Former Manchester City player Sun Jihai (center) participates in the Premier League and British Council Premier Skills Showcase held in Beijing on October 17, 2024. Photo: Courtesy of the English Premier League’s China office in Beijing

Top-tier European football leagues have, in the recent past, started renewing their cooperation with China, with Spain’s La Liga opening a football academy in Shanghai. 

“We know there is a wealth of talented young footballers in China, and we hope to help them grow through our methodology,” La Liga President ­Javier Tebas told the Global Times in a recent interview. 

“China has always been a strategically important market for La Liga, and since 2015, we have been promoting youth football programs here.”

The Shanghai academy is not the first La Liga academy in the Chinese mainland, with another academy having been established in Kunming, Southwest China’s Yunnan Province in 2019.

A youth football competition, the La Liga Hope Cup has also taken place since 2019, at which young players from domestic Chinese and La Liga clubs vie for glory.

Similar to La Liga’s strengthening presence in China, other top-tier ­European leagues have also waded into the Chinese market. 

Top-tier German league Bundesliga, which opened its China office in March 2019, has also extended its cooperation with the Chinese Football Association (CFA), inviting more young Chinese players to train with Bundesliga clubs.

The “Bundesliga Dream” youth training project witnessed several Chinese under-16 players train with and compete in Bundesliga clubs Borussia Moenchengladbach, VfB Stuttgart, and Bayer Leverkusen at the start of 2024. 

The Bundesliga project has been seen as promising. 

In the AFC U-17 Asian Cup qualifiers in October 2024, eight Chinese players who participated in the project were selected for the Chinese national team’s under-17 squad, scoring a total of seven goals and providing seven assists.

A new phase of the project will kick off in April 2025, as the national under-16 team is set to travel to Germany for two weeks to train with and compete in Bundesliga clubs, with outstanding players earning themselves the opportunity to participate in an additional week of integrated training with Bundesliga clubs.

“The development of Chinese youth football will benefit from outstanding international football institutions,” CFA President Song Kai was quoted as saying when addressing the Bundesliga project. 

“We should strive to create conditions for young players to go out and participate in more high-level competitions, exchanges, and training.” 

Local programs

France’s elite Ligue 1, which established a China office in 2017, set up a China Youth Training Center in Southwest China’s Chongqing Municipality in 2023. 

Ligue 1 club AJ Auxerre, owned by Chinese businessman Zhou Yunjie, has provided logistical support to the Chinese national under-15 and ­under-14 teams who went to France in the summer of 2024 for training.

“AJ Auxerre has consistently been committed to supporting the prosperity and development of Chinese football youth training,” the club noted in a statement. 

“We look forward to jointly promoting the progress of Chinese football youth training, deepening the mutual understanding and integration of the football cultures of the two countries, and jointly building a solid bridge for football cultural exchanges between the two countries.”

The English Premier League (EPL) established its China office in October 2024, as it penned a memorandum of understanding with the CFA to support the development of football in China at elite and grassroots levels.

“We understand the importance of developing football locally, and we will be continuing our long-standing work with local football organizations to promote the growth of the game,” Premier League Chief Executive Richard Masters told reporters when announcing the establishment of the Beijing office. 

“Having a permanent base in China will help us to work closely with our partners and develop even more opportunities to bring Premier League excitement to fans in the region.”

The collaboration with the Chinese FA will include the delivery of an elite international coach development program with study visits for Chinese football coaches to spend time with Premier League clubs, the EPL said, with more activities including a youth tournament and grassroots development courses.

The Premier League has been supporting grassroots football in China for 15 years, as the league has delivered the coaching program to 28 Chinese cities, training more than 6,300 grassroots coaches, referees and teachers in China, it stated. 

Vying for talents

While such programs and initiatives have received praises, some argue that their impact may be limited as the training window is narrow and focuses only on a small scale of coaches and players. 

But Zhang Bin, an independent sports columnist based in Beijing, told the Global Times on Tuesday that such programs and initiatives will certainly help Chinese young players and coaches grow, but European leagues are not doing it for “philanthropy.”

“The leagues are trading youth programs in exchange for better a presence in China. However, these programs will help us identify future talents,” Zhang said.

“Having youth training programs overseas will certainly help domestic Chinese young players grow as the level of Chinese football is comparatively low to their European counterparts.” 

Zhang added that those programs are unlikely to generate quick outcomes, but the competition among the leagues interested in young Chinese players will fuel the progress of domestic talent scouting. 

“Unlikely our neighbors Japan and South Korea who send many players to compete overseas at a very early age, generally Chinese families don’t have such financial means to do so,” Zhang said. 

Wang Dazhao, a seasoned Beijing-based sports commentator, also voiced support for young domestic players training overseas.

“Allowing young Chinese players to compete in high-intensity matches early in their careers helps them quickly improve their skills, tactical awareness and mental strength,” Wang told the Global Times. “This kind of hands-on experience and match tempo is hard to replicate in domestic leagues.”