The Fairytale Still in Writing
The International Federation of Association Football, the world governing body of football known by its French acronym FIFA, states that a game called cuju, which bears similarities to football, originated in China 2,000 years ago.
In 2016, the Chinese Football Association (CFA) unveiled its plan t o make China a country with a strong football sector by 2050. This resulted in a surge of attention, including my own. And having left Dutch professional football club Ajax in 2016, by early 2017 I was working in Shanghai and then, in 2018, began working with Beijing Guoan Football Club (FC), where I hold the title of head of performance.
A challenging job
My job entails overseeing all things that may influence the players physically including, but not limited to, scheduling gym training, recovery, nutrition and of course field training. So, the performance department, currently with two full-time Chinese performance coaches, one intern and myself, provides standardization of week plans, per age, based on the next match for each age groups’ coaching staff within the youth academy (2nd team to under 12). This includes specific training exercise topics, pitch dimensions and timings that do not overly fatigue players and that are best suited to the players on a given day. Following this, weekly and daily meetings occur with the coaching staff of each team and technical managers to review and communicate in detail their training via an online system unique to our club.
Working in China is certainly different from working in the West, and in all my 14-plus years of working experience in professional football, Beijing is the most challenging. Flexibility is a must. Why? Well, training and matches can often change last minute due to unscheduled school exams or the school or government taking the training venue for external activities. Prior to our (a foreign head of the youth academy, technical managers, head of goalkeepers nd and performance coaches, a total of 10, now five) arrival, training activities seemed to be planned on the day or the day before. Moreover, the Beijing Football Association and the CFA often schedule competitions extremely close together.
From my working experience with professional clubs in the United Kingdom, Hungary and the Netherlands, the national football association will publish at least the full year’s match schedule well ahead of time. Therefore, teams and staff can plan and prepare for upcoming periods and the season. However, this is not the case in China. And, under the “new normal” since COVID-19 started, teams in China are often required to play back-to-back full matches, often over a period of a few weeks. This can be from six matches in 13 days to 18 matches in 33 days.
Little do most people know, full professional youth training academies in China are very much in their infancy. Only as recently as 2018, t he CFA announced the rule that, in order to qualify for the relevant professional league, professional clubs would need have a set number of youth teams (five or four, depending on the professional league) starting from the 2019 season. Only a handful would have been eligible if the rule had been implemented instantly. Such a previous lack of focus on long-term development for youth (or relying on schools and their teachers to develop football players) is certainly evident today. However, this rule has been modified to require fewer youth teams as a result of the financial crisis some clubs face.
Furthermore, many children leave home as young as 6 or 7 years old with the dream (possibly of their family) that they become a professional footballer, often at the expense of full education. Unlike many of its counterparts in China, Beijing Guoan FC’s youth academy looks primarily at those in
Beijing: one reason being due to school regulations, and the other being that the club recognizes that the children need to grow up with their family, their friends and their neighborhood.
Ultimately, education should come first. The best clubs, not only in China but around the world, need the best local schools, providing a student-athlete pathway from primary school all the way through to high school and even university. In Japan, for instance, university teams can compete in the Japanese football association cup (Emperor’s Cup) and also in a regional university competition system. This enables the child to have the opportunity to continue competing and developing within a strong football environment, sometimes competing against the best teams in Japan via t he Emperor’s Cup, while continuing their studies. This gives young players the opportunity to pursue both football and education at the same time without one being at the expense of the other, unlike the current situation in China. This is why professional clubs in Japan need to make the best choice, first for the child by providing an educational pathway, and then the club. A strong educational pathway that coincides with football is likely to attract more children and their families, so it is a winwin situation for all. Of course, a young player might not want to continue higher education or fail to make the necessary grades to do so, and may therefore focus primarily on football. However, it should be non-negatable that the young players should be provided with a good education to enable further study opportunities and work prospects should they fail to become a professional football player. Unfortunately, Beijing Guoan FC is not at this stage yet, nor are other clubs in China.
Unity is strength
Yet, I must say that Beijing Guoan FC is both special and different. And while there are still many obstacles we must overcome, the club is trying to push boundaries for the development of youth football in China. Since 2018, some great achievements have been accomplished: Creating a top-ranked youth academy in China, breaking multiple club records, i ncluding youngest starting XI in the CFA Cup and Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Champions League, and youngest goal-scorer and fastest goal in the AFC Champions League, a continued flow of youth academy players to the first team (including 17 in one season), and much more. My hope is that more clubs can follow suit and work together for the youth teams.
Given the recent scandals within the professional game for alleged bribery and corruption involving players, coaches, managers and CFA leaders, there is now a new opportunity to rebuild Chinese football, putting it back on track. If the rules are followed, with the right people working in the right positions, you will see the results sooner. Out with the dishonesty and instead focus on what is best for the children and the development of Chinese football. With a good competition system and coaching courses, national and local associations need to collaborate and do more to assist both professional and amateur football clubs in youth development.
China shouldn’t copy other nations. It should build its own football philosophy, which is applicable to all levels with short communication lines that should be adhered to by all working in Chinese football. This is unity. This is working collectively to achieve (what should be) the common desire of Chinese football fans: To be proud of Chinese football, to be proud of the Chinese national teams and to idolize Chinese football players.
I am proud of this club and the work that some good people within the club do. And, I am proud to have had the responsibility to walk and work on the pitch at the opening of and during the club’s first season at the newly renovated Beijing Workers’ Stadium, the home base of Beijing Guoan FC, in front of the club’s great fans. I will always fight for what is best for the players in the club, but we all need to push forward not only in Beijing Guoan FC, but other Chinese football clubs, the local football associations and the CFA, to take these steps and to make the people proud of Chinese football.
So, by 2050, the perfect ending to the perfect fairytale… it’s still in writing.