Under the guidance of the Ministry of Education and the State Sports General Administration, the first China Youth Football League sponsored by the China Football Association allowed various mechanisms and forms of football series events through open events, which increased the participation of many parties and the selection of football reserve talents in a competitive environment. At the same time, it abandoned "championship" and returned to "competition for all", and made major innovative reforms in the design, implementation and promotion of competitions, which ushered in substantive breakthroughs and embodied distinctive features, and became a new symbol and a new model for promoting the deep integration of physical education and education in the new era.
First of all, the integration of sports and education is highlighted, and there are no barriers to the competition. There are 45 competition areas and 9 competition groups for men and women in the country, and teams from schools, sports schools, youth training echelons of clubs and social youth training institutions can participate, which has brought China’s youth football events to a new height.
Secondly, introduce high-tech and new media into youth competitions to attract participating teams, media and fans, and improve the appreciation and participation. The competition office of China Youth League introduced wearable devices, video analysis and data collection in this competition. The official App "Green China" updated the competition information in real time, and China Education TV broadcasted the competitions in Weibo and WeChat official account, producing network and TV signals. The cumulative number of viewers and Weibo readings on related topics on all major platforms reached tens of millions.
The third is to improve the quality of the event through reasonable schedule and strict organization. The scene is wonderful and the competition is fierce, which reflects the technical and tactical development level of youth football and provides a stage for showing the development of youth football in China in recent years. China Football Association also introduced international referees in the competition and conducted exchange training for young referees, which ensured the smooth progress of the competition and trained the referee team.
China Youth Football League, as the top youth football tournament with the widest coverage, the highest competitive level and the largest number of participants in China, has formed a wide range of social influence and enhanced the competitiveness of football projects through its first year of trial. As a new starting point for the development of youth football in China, the working procedure, organizational structure and event setting of this new event are also facing new challenges.
First of all, how to form a favorable situation of cross-departmental cooperation, multi-field resource sharing and all-round platform construction. Under the guidance of the Ministry of Education and the State Sports General Administration, it is necessary to make full use of the differences of resources in different places through overall guidance, reasonable guidance and hierarchical guidance, and formulate rights and interests plans that are more in line with local characteristics and optimize the balance of resources. The China Youth Football League Competition Organization Work Plan (2022-2024) (hereinafter referred to as the "Work Plan") is jointly formulated and implemented by the Ministry of Education, the State Sports General Administration and the Chinese Football Association. The competition management organization is the China Youth Football League Competition Office, with the chairman of the Chinese Football Association as the director and the deputy director as the main leaders of the Sports, Health and Arts Department of the Ministry of Education and the Youth Division of the State Sports General Administration. At the provincial level, the Education Department and the Sports Bureau, as operational guidance, are under the responsibility of the Football Association. It is necessary to establish a coordination mechanism for multi-sectoral cooperation and clarify the primary and secondary responsibilities of organizations. At the same time, the economic development levels of provinces and cities in China are quite different, and the coordination ability of education departments, sports departments and football associations in different provinces and cities for specific work is quite different. It is urgent for economically developed and underdeveloped areas to coordinate the implementation of the Work Plan and the conditions for holding the games, so as to form a "national chess game" layout of youth games and avoid the situation of no distinction between primary and secondary, unclear rights and responsibilities and different standards.
Second, how to emphasize the mass, popularity and fairness of the event. The competition scheme covers the age of U8-U19, covering teenagers in colleges, middle schools and primary schools, with a huge crowd range, which breaks the previous pattern of holding youth football matches by professional club echelons, sports school teams and campus football, and provides opportunities for the most extensive youth groups to compete on the same stage, learn from each other and compete healthily. Therefore, the organization of the tournament should not only mobilize the enthusiasm and participation of the majority of young people to the greatest extent, but also pay attention to the definition and audit of the composition of the participating teams, the identity of the participating personnel and the qualifications of the participating organizations, and formulate a detailed, reasonable and feasible selection mechanism on the team participation plan to avoid the improper flow of outstanding football resources talents and affect the mass basic work of cultivating outstanding talents.
Third, how to optimize the organization work and build the cornerstone of the event. Sports and competitions need to follow the scientific principle, and put more emphasis on interest-oriented sports training for teenagers. There is a big gap between young children’s sports skills and physical conditions, and their collective consciousness and cognitive level are also significantly different. It is necessary to make a more reasonable division of groups and competition arrangements, accurately organize the division of events, and pay attention to cultivating young players’ self-confidence, sense of accomplishment and the improvement of sports skills through competition in terms of psychological and physical growth. At the same time, campus football and vocational youth training are two different training systems, and the stages and orientations of cultivating football talents are also different. Nationally, the provinces with developed economic development have a high degree of football marketization, and many excellent coaches and student players have gathered to participate in the youth training system. However, in the provinces with scarce resources, after-school "430" campus football activities may still lack a systematic and professional system. Therefore, the national youth league matches need to pay special attention to and cultivate the balanced development of football in different regions. Through the promotion of the games, we can balance the distribution of resources, change the unbalanced and insufficient development of football in different regions, and give full play to the resource distribution and coordination of the games, which not only takes into account the competitive level and enjoyment of the games, but also highlights the popular characteristics and inclusiveness of the games.
On this basis, China Youth Football League needs to make full use of China’s overall strategy and historical development opportunities to promote the construction of a strong sports country, promote the national fitness strategy, emphasize the integration of sports and education, and promote the development of football. On the basis of scientific formulation and implementation of the Work Plan, it should pay more attention to cultivating the characteristics of differentiated and balanced youth events in the implementation process, ensure the fairness, fairness and openness of the events, fundamentally promote the development of youth football, fully realize the social value and function of football, and promote China’s football. (The first author, Li Yin, is a lecturer in Sports Department of Sun Yat-sen University, with a doctorate in management; The second author, Ye Lin, is the deputy dean, professor and doctoral supervisor of the School of Political and Public Affairs Management of Sun Yat-sen University.