German football coach leads a team to a high school in a county-level city in Jiangsu Province, Taicang | China | High School
On the morning of June 20th local time in Germany, the 11th China Germany Economic and Technological Cooperation Forum was held in Berlin. Taicang, Jiangsu Province, as one of the four invited cities in China and the only county-level city, participated in the forum.
Located next to Shanghai, Taicang is the hometown of German enterprises, with over 480 German companies investing and operating here. Taicang has close connections with various aspects of Germany, including a football story——
Bayern Munich Football Club in Germany is one of the well-known football clubs in Europe. In 2016, the club established a China office in Shanghai to carry out football youth training projects in the Yangtze River Delta region. In November 2022, Bayern Munich Football Club teamed up with Jiangsu Taicang to establish the Bayern Munich Taicang Football School, which will implement youth football training in high schools in Taicang High tech Zone. "Taicang is only one hour away from Shanghai, which is an ideal condition." Ma Yongming, a German who has been engaged in sports for many years, is the head of Asian sports affairs at Bayern Munich. He mentioned that in recent years, Taicang's cooperation with Germany has continuously expanded from the economic and trade field to cultural, sports and other fields. Special events such as the German Taicang Day and the German Beer Festival have promoted Taicang to become an important city for cultural exchange between China and Germany.
Taicang also has a strong football atmosphere. Currently, the Taicang City Football League, which is in full swing, has gathered 23 representative teams and nearly a thousand football enthusiasts to sign up. In terms of youth football development, Taicang has achieved remarkable results. At the 2023 "Governor's Cup" Jiangsu Youth Campus Football League Finals, which ended in May, the football team from Taicang High tech Zone Second Primary School, representing Suzhou, defended their title and won the championship. The Bayern Munich Taicang Exhibition and Experience Center, located on the Rothenburg style street in Taicang, has been open for less than three months and has attracted many fans to check in. In addition to the "Sino German Friendship Cup" football invitational, Taicang's football league has attracted a group of German enterprises such as Schaeffler and Muber to form teams to participate. Half of the starting players in Schaeffler's enterprise team are Germans.
The rich German elements make Ma Yongming feel like he is from his hometown in Taicang, which also makes him feel that working in Taicang is easier. "China may find football geniuses," said Ma Yongming, who has been living in China for many years and can speak fluent Chinese. "Chinese football, like China's new energy vehicles, requires a certain amount of time to accumulate and achieve great results." Ma Yongming said, "Based on the experience of Germans, a period of 8-10 years can cultivate a group of excellent players."
"To be frank, the football level of children in Taicang elementary school is better than I imagined." At the training site, German player Edward said, he is the youth training director of Bayern Taicang Football School. As a professional football coach, Edward used to be a member of the Freiburg coaching team and helped the team win the U19 German Cup championship. Observing the performance of Chinese children on the field carefully, in his eyes, whether in China or Germany, playing football brings the same sense of pleasure to children who love football. "We should follow the trend and not scold players when they make mistakes on the field, so that they dare not perform anymore." Regarding how to cultivate youth creativity, Edward has his own practical experience. "When a player receives the ball, they cannot just pass it to another player. During training, various methods should be used to force the ball holder to make decisions, constantly stimulating their creativity and encouraging players to make their own decisions."
The settlement of Bayern Munich Taicang Football School has brought joy to Ni Jiaqi, a junior high school student in Taicang High tech Zone. Ni Jiaqi, who has been playing football for six or seven years, has won the Suzhou Mayor's Cup campus football championship and was also selected to Italy for friendly football exchanges. Her goal is to play for a professional team. Being able to receive professional guidance from Bayern Munich's youth training coach makes Ni Jiaqi feel that she is one step closer to her dream.
In recent years, more and more Chinese players have entered Bayern Munich. In December 2021, 18-year-old Chinese goalkeeper Liu Shaoziyang reached an agreement with Bayern Munich, signing a contract until 2025. Liu Shaoziyang became the first Chinese player to join Bayern Munich. In the recently released list of the third Bayern World Team, Chinese U19 player Guo Jiaxuan is prominently included.