China's huge new football academy

Rhys Essien

So China are aiming for big things in the future.It has 50 pitches and currently 2,400 students living there and they want to increase this to 10,000.They have brought in a heap of Spanish coaches to do the job.One of the coaches said that they want to make China number two in the world,"After all,Spain will always be number one".:D

So China world cup winners in 2030???

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/10883410/China-aims-for-World-Cup-glory-with-biggest-football-academy-on-earth.html

Paully D

Once they get relatively undetectable performance enhancers they'll be flying.

DerekDGoldfish

Paully D wrote: »

Once they get relatively undetectable performance enhancers they'll be flying.

I think that might give it away though.

brianregan09

Hope they do well with it , didn't the US do something similar a few years ago

TheMilkyPirate

Was only saying to one of my mates the other night that with their population if they pumped a lot of money they could surely become a footballing powerhouse soon enough.

Rhys Essien

Rhys Essien wrote: »

So China are aiming for big things in the future.It has 50 pitches and currently 2,400 students living there and they want to increase this to 10,000.They have brought in a heap of Spanish coaches to do the job.One of the coaches said that they want to make China number two in the world,"After all,Spain will always be number one".:D

So China world cup winners in 2030???

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/10883410/China-aims-for-World-Cup-glory-with-biggest-football-academy-on-earth.html

Highly feasible that this could come to fruitition. Asian teams such as Japan and Korea are pretty decent as it is and since money generally talks in football it is highly feasible that China can achieve their aims provided they are all on board and committed to the cause which generally with Asian culture there will be no issue in that department.

Also, looking at what they have achieved at Olympic sports by increase in funding and taking other factors into their account such as vast population, it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if China made a rapid breakthrough.

zAbbo

There's a fascinating story here from the early 90's where China put 22 of their highest potential 16-18 year olds on a 5 year programme to live and train in Brazil. The aim was to turn them into world beaters in time for the 2000 Olympics (hoping that it would be Beijing), and then to win the 2002 World Cup. Simple.

One of the youngsters was Lie Tie (ex Everton).

In a small village called Juquitiba near Sao Paulo in Brazil, twenty-two Chinese teenagers are playing football.
They are the top teenage football players in the whole of China. One day they are going to be world champions. The teenagers are on a five-year programme of training with a Brazilian football coach, Ecio Pasca. They start at six o’clock in the morning because it’s so hot later in the day, and they play, practice and study football for eight hours a day, six days a week. They can only go back home to China for one short trip to see their families. In their free time in the evening, they watch Chinese video tapes in an old video, The team captain, Lie Tie, says, ‘It is sometimes very hard here. I miss my family terribly, but I want to be successful’.

Brazilian soccer coach Ecio Pasca (3L) teaching members of a Chinese soccer team some fundamentals of Brazilian-style play.

Richard Hillman

Paully D wrote: »

Once they get relatively undetectable performance enhancers they'll be flying.

That's why they got the Spanish in

Rayne Wooney

zAbbo wrote: »

There's a fascinating story here from the early 90's where China put 22 of their highest potential 16-18 year olds on a 5 year programme to live and train in Brazil. The aim was to turn them into world beaters in time for the 2000 Olympics (hoping that it would be Beijing), and then to win the 2002 World Cup. Simple.

One of the youngsters was Lie Tie (ex Everton).




Brazilian soccer coach Ecio Pasca (3L) teaching members of a Chinese soccer team some fundamentals of Brazilian-style play.

Did they win the World Cup in the end?

zAbbo

Rayne Wooney wrote: »

Did they win the World Cup in the end?

In a twist of fate, the laws changed for Olympic teams in 1992, with players required to be under 23 (and 3 overage players). This meant that the Chinese lads in Brazil would have all been at least 24 by the time the 2000 Olympic games came about.

As we now know, Sydney got the 2000 games, and Beijing was 2008.

Even before the law change, the 22 guys would have been 32-34 years old. And no, they didn't win the world cup either

AllGunsBlazing

Rayne Wooney wrote: »

Did they win the World Cup in the end?

As far as anyone in China needs to know? Yes, they did. Probably best to leave it that.

Zico

Football might be one of the few things they can't just cheaply copy and skip all the hard development work. They'll be a very long time just trying to get to the level of Japan and South Korea.

Francie Barrett

It's going to take decades for China to make an impact on world football given the extremely low base that they're starting from. While it's true football is big as a spectator sport, they have a barely professional league that seems to be in a bit of a state at the moment. If China want to improve the quality, then they're going to have to do it all internally as none of the big European leagues will develop Chinese players for them.

AllGunsBlazing

Francie Barrett wrote: »

If China want to improve the quality, then they're going to have to do it all internally as none of the big European leagues will develop Chinese players for them.

Now watch them buy a cash strapped European club side or two.

zAbbo

zAbbo wrote: »

There's a fascinating story here from the early 90's where China put 22 of their highest potential 16-18 year olds on a 5 year programme to live and train in Brazil. The aim was to turn them into world beaters in time for the 2000 Olympics (hoping that it would be Beijing), and then to win the 2002 World Cup. Simple.

One of the youngsters was Lie Tie (ex Everton).




Brazilian soccer coach Ecio Pasca (3L) teaching members of a Chinese soccer team some fundamentals of Brazilian-style play.

Mad experiment really. You cant transport kids thousands of miles from home and put the pressure and expectation on them that if you do x y and z then one day you will be champions. Ludicrous. Very simple way of looking at things.

This plan at the moment though with top facilities and top coaches just might work. Akin to amateur boxing in Ireland. Its no coincidence that we are achieving in boxing due to putting resources into the sport.

EuropeanSon

Deleted User wrote: »

Mad experiment really. You cant transport kids thousands of miles from home and put the pressure and expectation on them that if you do x y and z then one day you will be champions. Ludicrous. Very simple way of looking at things.

The Chinese Olympic programme says otherwise.

As long as you're heartless enough not to care about the human cost, it'll work eventually.

Amirani

EuropeanSon wrote: »

The Chinese Olympic programme says otherwise.

As long as you're heartless enough not to care about the human cost, it'll work eventually.

Footballing ability has lots of intangible qualities that aren't really present in Olympic style sports.

EuropeanSon

EuropeanSon wrote: »

The Chinese Olympic programme says otherwise.

As long as you're heartless enough not to care about the human cost, it'll work eventually.

Yeah i suppose its like the catch of a big fishing net. Some will be top quality and some will be sardines.

AllGunsBlazing

Football being a team sport also makes it that bit harder to fast track a nation to success.

Arthur Beesley

Rayne Wooney wrote: »

Did they win the World Cup in the end?

Did they even qualify?

EuropeanSon

Diego Simeone wrote: »

Footballing ability has lots of intangible qualities that aren't really present in Olympic style sports.

Olympic style sports isn't really a thing. Basically every sport is in the Olympics.

kksaints

Arthur Beesley wrote: »

Did they even qualify?

They qualified in 2002. Lost all 3 matches in a group with Brazil, Turkey and Costa Rica.

Amirani

EuropeanSon wrote: »

Olympic style sports isn't really a thing. Basically every sport is in the Olympics.

You really couldn't figure out what I meant there?

Arthur Beesley

They should try to get some decent players with the 'granny rule'.

EuropeanSon

Diego Simeone wrote: »

You really couldn't figure out what I meant there?

Not really, no. What makes it more difficult to identify a good footballer than a good boxer, or a good badminton player, or a good basketball player, or a good *insert sport here that isn't a timed race of some kind* player?

In most of these sports, the only way of figuring out if someone is actually good enough at the top level is to pit them against the world's best. Similar to how it is in football. China have produced top class performers in all.

Amirani

EuropeanSon wrote: »

Not really, no. What makes it more difficult to identify a good footballer than a good boxer, or a good badminton player, or a good basketball player, or a good *insert sport here that isn't a timed race of some kind* player?

In most of these sports, the only way of figuring out if someone is actually good enough at the top level is to pit them against the world's best. Similar to how it is in football.

Okay, by "Olympic style" sports I was referring to non-team based sports that are generally exclusively reliant on a large physical predisposition to that sport. It's not a very accurate phrase, but I've heard it used a few times.

So it's relatively easy to identify people that are likely to be good sprinters, distance runners, high jumpers, long jumpers, swimmers, weight lifters. A large population with certain physical attributes, combined with large amounts of training and enhancement of those attributes will almost guarantee some success in these sports. I don't think this really applies as much in football.

EuropeanSon

Diego Simeone wrote: »

Okay, by "Olympic style" sports I was referring to non-team based sports that are generally exclusively reliant on a large physical predisposition to that sport. It's not a very accurate phrase, but I've heard it used a few times.

So it's relatively easy to identify people that are likely to be good sprinters, distance runners, high jumpers, long jumpers, swimmers, weight lifters. A large population with certain physical attributes, combined with large amounts of training and enhancement of those attributes will almost guarantee some success in these sports. I don't think this really applies as much in football.

But most of China's Olympic success came in none of those sports?

They've built a basketball team among the world's best. They've created a very good boxing squad. Their badminton and table tennis teams dominate the Olympics.

They've been successful in a huge number and variety of Olympic sports, and it's not true at all that most of it is in sports you can solve by number crunching and just looking at the athletes physical capabilities.

YFlyer

AllGunsBlazing wrote: »

As far as anyone in China needs to know? Yes, they did. Probably best to leave it that.

You are possibly thinking of North Korea

Amirani

EuropeanSon wrote: »

But most of China's Olympic success came in none of those sports?

They've built a basketball team among the world's best. They've created a very good boxing squad. Their badminton and table tennis teams dominate the Olympics.

Basketball and boxing heavily reward certain tangible attributes, much more so than football. Their basketball team got hammered by Lithuania in '08 by the way. Table tennis success didn't come from and specific planning, China has been producing fantastic table tennis players for years.

Also, China's goal medal table in Beijing ranked as:

1. Gymnastics
2. Weightlifting
3. Diving
4. Shooting

None of these require a strong domestic league or at least a strong domestic league nearby that can give your players good competition from a young age.

I'm not saying that it's as simple as measuring some attributes, doing some training and you'll have guaranteed success. I'm saying that the process is a lot more difficult to implement in football, because of the increased competition, lack of clear tangible assets and a number of other factors.

AllGunsBlazing

YFlyer wrote: »

You are possibly thinking of North Korea

No. But I don't doubt they've won it on more than one occasion themselves. With Kim Jung Un winning the golden boot as well, obviously..

EuropeanSon

Diego Simeone wrote: »

Basketball and boxing heavily reward certain tangible attributes, much more so than football. Table tennis success didn't come from and specific planning, China has been producing fantastic table tennis players for years.

Also, China's goal medal table in Beijing ranked as:

1. Gymnastics
2. Weightlifting
3. Diving
4. Shooting

None of these require a strong domestic league or at least a strong domestic league nearby that can give your players good competition from a young age.

I'm not saying that it's as simple as measuring some attributes, doing some training and you'll have guaranteed success. I'm saying that the process is a lot more difficult to implement in football, because of the increased competition, lack of clear tangible assets and a number of other factors.

Fair enough, didn't realise weightlifting was their #2 sport at the Olympics. The point that they did succeed ina huge number of diverse sports still stands though.

I think the increased competition line is valid, but wouldn't be convinced by the other point really. I recall China's basketball team was not as big as several other teams in the competition in Beijing with the exception of a few players, they were very well drilled and organised and had fantastic shooting.

I'd think this is somewhat analogous to the idea of them potentially producing a supremely technically capable football team. I think mainly because of the huge amount of global competition it would be more difficult, but given their essentially unlimited population and resources definitely possible.

YFlyer

AllGunsBlazing wrote: »

No. But I don't doubt they've won it on more than one occasion themselves. With Kim Jung Un winning the golden boot as well, obviously..

Umadbrah?

Did anyone watch the video on the telegraph website? The Chinese president is kicking a GAA o'neills ball. Where on earth did he get that

NoelJ

Umadbrah? wrote: »

Did anyone watch the video on the telegraph website? The Chinese president is kicking a GAA o'neills ball. Where on earth did he get that

Wasn't he over here recently. It's Croke Park he's in.

EuropeanSon

AllGunsBlazing wrote: »

No. But I don't doubt they've won it on more than one occasion themselves. With Kim Jung Un winning the golden boot as well, obviously..

Bit of a misconception here about censorship in China. While a good few things (Google, Facebook, Twitter) are blocked completely, you can still access major news websites (BBC, guardian) freely. I think they filter a few stories (Tienanmen etc) though, but most stuff is untouched.

Umadbrah?

NoelJ wrote: »

Wasn't he over here recently. It's Croke Park he's in.

Ahh I that's a nice pal to have when China overtake USA as world #1 super power