Becks’ aim to inspire 250m kids
THE Chinese are backing David Beckham to help transform their nation’s football future.
The Chinese Super League has already spent a fortune recruiting some of world football’s biggest names.
And now China is hoping Beckham can inspire the nation’s kids and build towards success on the international stage.
Becks is the face of a new TV series aiming to introduce Chinese kids to the sport. The former England captain is introducing a daily programme, which is being led by Tom Byer, an American coach.
Byer has been brought in by the Chinese FA to breathe fresh life into a country currently ranked a lowly 86th in the world.
New York-born Byer believes that short skilldrills, broadcast to millions of kids across China daily, hold the key to improving the fortunes of a country that has only once qualified for the World Cup.
“It’s a one-point lesson and it’s on every single day for three minutes,” Byer said. “It’s opened up by David Beckham – he tells the kids how important technical skills are.
“It was the main project for the Ministry of Education last year and it will be on [Chinese TV] 365 days of the year.
“This is my whole mantra: improving the technical skills of young kids. We’re showing them what they can do by themselves. It’s really simple stuff, but it worked brilliantly over 14 years in Japan, so hopefully it can do the same here too.”
Beckham is an instantly recognisable figure in Asia, and between 2013 and 2016 was Chinese football’s first global ambassador.
Now, Byer is banking on Becks and the power of television to help to reach upwards of 250million Chinese schoolkids.
But he admits that there’s no quick fix. “It takes around 10 to 20 years for a grassroots programme to deliver,” added Byer. “What people here want is a successful national team and good young Chinese footballers.”