April 29, 2011 - Although Shenhua and Seaport come to mind first when mentioning Shanghai soccer, Chinese first division team Shanghai Jiading Huilong has been based in the Jiading district for many years and rooted in youth training, according to Football Daily. Their experience and model are more than worthy of learning from the small and medium-sized music sector.
Many small and medium-sized clubs in Europe rely on their communities, including some teams active in the top leagues. Being rooted in a place is sustainable, creates a culture of community soccer and, more importantly, it can drive the level of soccer throughout the place through youth training. There are countless ready-made examples in Europe. Shanghai Jiading Huilong is also a model for the development of small and medium-sized clubs in China.
The investor Lu Jianjun calculated an account, from the beginning of contact with the soccer in 2009 to later form a team to participate in the professional league, he invested a total of more than 200 million yuan. For a business owner of a small company, this is already a small amount. Currently, Jiading Huilong's total annual expenditure is about 24.9 million yuan. In the 2023 season, for example, the total investment in the first team is 12.1 million yuan, the total investment in the youth training ladder is 11.3 million yuan, and the club's operating expenses are more than 1 million yuan. The expenses of the first team and youth training are close to equal, which shows the importance that Jiading Huilong attaches to youth training.
Before Jiading Huilong began to develop youth training, soccer in Jiading District, let alone in the country, belonged to Shanghai's last trip. However, with the establishment of Huilong's youth training system and the accumulation of campuses, Jiading District youth soccer has been among the top in Shanghai and even in the country. in 2023, Jiading District won six championships and three runners-up in different age groups in Shanghai-level tournaments. the U15 age group finished sixth in the country in the CYC, and won the national championship in the U13 age group.
Aside from results, talent transfer is the ultimate goal of elite youth training for professional clubs, and Jiading has had a very high success rate in this regard. Players from Jiading have made it to the national youth teams and the national youth team's audition lists at all age groups. center back Gao Le of the U18 team, who played in the Central League last season and was selected for the national youth team not too long ago, has a proven track record of appearances and is one of the best of the best. Gao Le is a typical result of Jiading's youth training. His parents are from Anhui. They came to Shanghai to work in the early years and settled in Jiading District. Gao Le went to school and received soccer training in Jiading District. Currently, he has decided to take the professional soccer route. Players like Gao Le are not uncommon in the Jiading ladder team.
However, the situation is also changing. Over the past two years, the Jiading District Education Bureau has seen a gradual decrease in purchasing funds, and the $3 million annual chest advertising sponsorship that was set last year has been canceled this year. For small and medium-sized clubs like Jiading Huilong, a multi-million dollar budget reduction is a matter of life and death. Last year, their players took a three-day bus ride from Shanghai to Kunming to save on travel expenses. In the past, youth training in Jiading was free. Now, some players will have some of their travel expenses covered by their parents, while some players at relatively poor levels will have to pay a certain amount of training fees, but these are a drop in the bucket of professional club operations.
I have to say that Kaeding laid off this year. There were over 70 full time youth coaches at Guardian Huilon at their peak and over 40 were laid off this year. Some of the elite team coaches need to complete the campus service while leading the team. Lu Jianjun said a few words of "no way" to this, "Sometimes playing soccer is really helpless." He said. But he does not regret. After all, this native of Jiading let everyone know, "Shanghai not only have Shenhua and harbor, there are small and medium-sized clubs like Jiading. Big clubs can spend a lot of money to buy people to supplement the youth training system, our people are trained by ourselves." Lu said.
