"The last time I came to Hangzhou was five years ago. Time flies." These were the opening words of Takeshi Okada: "From all aspects, I am amazed at the changes in Zhejiang FC." Yesterday afternoon, former Zhejiang coach and current FC investor Takeshi Okada came to the Hangzhou Zhongtai base to sign a new youth training cooperation agreement with Zhejiang FC. In the next phase of cooperation, the two sides will especially strengthen the special training of teams at all levels related to soccer, improve physical fitness, goalkeeping and other links. At the same time, the two sides will continue to expand the scope of youth training cooperation and extend the cooperation to the training of young players of the first team.
At the signing ceremony, players Gaudi and Sun Zheng'ao came to visit their mentor, and Takeshi Okada talked to them about the past. Ten years ago, Gaudi thanked Takeshi Okada in the back of the goal scene became a "Chinese Super League classic". Gaudi was also overwhelmed with emotion: "Time flies. Ten years have passed. I am very grateful to coach Takeshi Okada for his training and trust in me."
Takeshi Okada is happy to come to work and live in the Zhongtai base again. What makes him even happier are the changes in Zhejiang FC. "In recent years, I have met with Mr. Jiao (Jiao Fengbo, General Manager of Zhejiang FC) every year. Five years ago, Mr. Jiao always said he wanted the club to return to the Chinese Super League as soon as possible. That wish has been realized. Later, he said he wanted to enter the Asian Champions League. Surprisingly, this wish has been realized now. I am very happy and surprised to see Zhejiang's first team achieve such good results." Takeshi Okada said, "Apart from the results, the base has also changed a lot. The stadiums here are in better condition and there are more of them.
Speaking of the Zhejiang FC youth training players he saw at the base, Takeshi Okada said, "Technically speaking, there is no gap between the kids here and Japan." Following this topic, Takeshi Okada talked about how to train young players. In the second 2023 China Youth Football League (U17 Division), which ended on Saturday, Zhejiang Greentown U17 Green Team won the U17 Division National Championship and defended their title by defeating Shanghai Shenhua U17 Team 1-0. In addition, Zhejiang Greentown U19 team won the second place, Zhejiang Greentown U13 team won the third place, and Zhejiang Greentown U17 Blue team won the third place in this year's Chinese Youth Championships
Takeshi Okada recognizes the achievements of Zhejiang FC's youth training, but he believes that nothing can be determined by achievements: "It depends on what kind of philosophy and concepts through which the achievements were obtained. If the young players just want to win championships, they can find some tall players for the tournament. In time, they can open their big feet and let these players find a high point. But when these players grow up, do they still have that advantage? Will they still be able to keep playing that way? Of course not. Therefore, Zhejiang FC's advantage is that they have their own soccer concept and philosophy. They don't just play to win, they play for the youth.
In Takeshi Okada's opinion, "systematization" is an important reason for Japan's leadership in soccer: "In recent years, Japanese soccer has really been doing something, and very patiently. They have improved the level of soccer in the whole country in four aspects: the training of coaches, the importance of youth training, the popularization of the soccer population and the improvement of the elite level. In China, we may pay more attention to the development of the elite level, i.e. the performance of the first team. The other three points are not emphasized as much as in Japan. I don't think it is possible to change Chinese soccer just by relying on Zhejiang Football Club, but I hope Zhejiang Football Club can play a role in stimulating and influencing Chinese soccer
Takeshi Okada added: "That's why I think that if there were more soccer clubs like Zhejiang FC in China, there would be the potential for bigger changes. Zhejiang is a large province in terms of population and economy, but Zhejiang FC is the only Chinese Super League club. Japan has only one-tenth of China's population, but has 65 professional clubs. If Zhejiang had more clubs, the level of soccer could be completely different."
In recent years, Jiao Fengbo, general manager of Zhejiang FC, has often traveled to Japan to play soccer with the Zhejiang FC ladder team. He has personally felt the gap with Japanese soccer and has the determination to catch up. That's why Zhejiang FC and Japan Youth Training entered into their fifth contract. "The cooperation between the two sides has been going on for more than a decade and has been going on for a long time", Jiao Fengbo said. "Our future cooperation will be gradually upgraded. If you invite foreign coaches in, Chinese soccer would have taken off long ago. The improvement of soccer level must be a systematic issue. There are no shortcuts. It is a long-term project. Therefore, we are cooperating with Japan
We will not only invite them in, but also go out. Jiao Fengbo said that more youth players will participate in Japanese matches in the future and will send one or two adult players over the age of 18 at the end of the year so that they can grow up in the soil of Japanese soccer. Jiao Fengbo said: "We used to learn from Brazil and Europe. Now Japanese soccer is considered a world benchmark. I think it is enough for us to learn from Japan." "Clubs should go out and look at the development of soccer from an international perspective, from the players to the staff, so that our soccer can make progress."
