On October 22nd, Weifang staged a wonderful China Youth Football League U15 final. Shandong Taishan U15 team won the championship with a score of 2-1, after two rounds of fierce battle, overcoming Evergrande Soccer School U15 team. After the match, Song Kai, the new chairman of the soccer association, came to the scene to present the trophy to the young players of Taishan team.
Song Kai made his first public appearance just six days after being elected president of the FA, and this research was his first time out of the capital since taking office. In stark contrast to the high-profile publicity of his predecessor's new team, Song Kai and his team have maintained a "low profile" since taking office. After the soccer congress, there were few personal comments from Song Kai, except for reports in the central media. Although rumors of his attendance at the CBA opening ceremony have been debunked, the focus of fans' and media's attention has always been on when Song Kai would appear and speak out, and on October 22nd, the youth game finally revealed the answer.
Song Kai explained the deeper significance of his first public appearance in front of the media, "Football revitalization, youth training first. In the future, CFA will regard youth training as a top priority."
Talking about youth training, Song Kai pointed out that, on the one hand, senior coaches should be encouraged to devote themselves to the cause of youth training. "If the competition results are poor, the primary reason is insufficient training. We lack good coaches to guide the youth teams. The treatment of youth coaches is far from that of professional teams, which is a problem that needs to be solved gradually. The CFA will guide the best coaches to devote themselves to youth training through policies."
On the other hand, a high-level and stable youth competition system needs to be built. "At the age of 12, Chinese players are at a similar level to Japanese and Korean players, but at the age of 16, the gap widens significantly, which mainly stems from the differences in the competition system. Players need to keep growing by participating in more high-level competitions. There are unstable factors in our competition system, which must be kept stable while being reasonably improved, and the overall framework must not be shaken."
Song Kai emphasized that although he has his own working philosophy as a practitioner in the traditional sports system, this does not mean that he believes that soccer needs to return to "tradition". On the contrary, he believes that Chinese soccer needs to open up further.
"Chinese soccer cannot be closed!" Song Kai exclaimed, "At present, Chinese soccer youth training mainly includes professional clubs, professional sports teams, social organizations and campus soccer. The CFA should first consolidate the foundation and maintain stability. It is unrealistic for Chinese soccer to completely return to the sports team model, but through the policy orientation of the National Games, it can motivate provinces and cities to increase their support for soccer."
Songkai believes that while opening up youth training should be expanded, the openness of the league should also be further increased. "Many industries have already proved that only full competition can produce inexpensive products. Now that the AFC is relaxing restrictions on foreign aid, and the Saudi league plans to increase the quota of foreign aid to 10 per team, Chinese soccer should also open up."
Song Kai said he hoped that by raising the level of competition, it would force Chinese players to compete at a higher level and allow the more capable to come to the fore. However, as to how to form a concrete policy, he said it still needs to be fully discussed and should not be overly worried. He plans to spend a year for all parties to fully discuss, clarify the direction and implement it gradually.
In response to some of the policies that have previously sparked public controversy, Song Kai made it clear that these policies will no longer be available. "In the future, the CFA will no longer introduce 'wonderful' policies such as 'national team league' and 'U23 player policy'. The CFA must meet social expectations before it can introduce new policies, and this is the first bottom line of my tenure."
