Reporter Chen Yong reports Regarding the development of youth football in China, the current focus of all parties is on campus football and the professional youth training system, the former focuses on popularization, focusing on allowing more young people to start the road of football; The latter is based on promotion, and helps professional leagues and national teams with elite youth training. But in fact, social youth training institutions are also an extremely important part, which is the key link between campus football and professional youth training.

On February 1, the 3rd "Huozhou Lunar New Year Cup" Xinjiang Youth Football Invitational Tournament in 2025, hosted by the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Football Association and the Turpan Municipal Bureau of Culture, Sports, Radio, Television and Tourism, and hosted by the Turpan Football Association, kicked off at the football field of Turpan Vocational and Technical College. A total of 133 teams participated in this event, mainly from social youth training institutions.

Turpan is one of the best places to host winter youth competitions in Xinjiang due to its mild winter climate with little snow.

The "Huozhou Lunar New Year Cup" Xinjiang Youth Football Invitational Tournament aims to provide a platform for social youth training institutions to display and communicate.

Anzar Abdusemi, a player from Bozhou Players Club, said: "I am very excited to be part of this tournament. My goal is to give my best and focus on playing every game, to help the team get good results and to show everyone what we are capable of. ”

"This is the second time we have participated in the 'Huozhou Lunar New Year Cup', a Xinjiang-wide sporting event that provides an opportunity for our players to exchange and learn from each other on the field, and strive to improve their skills in actual combat. We will give it our all and try to get good results. Aishan Aiheti, coach of the Braves Youth Football Club in Awati County, Aksu Prefecture, said.

The "Huozhou Lunar New Year Cup" has been held for three sessions, and the number of participating teams and participants has increased year by year, and the second session in 2024 will have 72 participating teams and more than 1,400 participating players; In 2025, it will nearly double, reaching 133 teams and more than 2,300 people.

At present, Xinjiang football has entered the fast lane of development. At the national brand level, Xinjiang players broke out in a blowout, and there were 3 people in the national team list, namely Baihelamu, Maiwulang and Wumitijiang, in addition, 5 people from the U22 national team, 1 person from the U20 national team, 4 people from the U17 national team, 2 people from the U16 national team, and 1 person from the U15 national selection team; In terms of social football, with the "Artush Cup" Xinjiang Football Invitational Tournament as the leader, Xinjiang has built a social football competition system; As for campus football, there are campus football competitions at the whole Xinjiang, prefecture, county, city and town levels, and a more refined event layout is currently being carried out.

In this context, the all-round development of social youth training institutions can undoubtedly provide more comprehensive assistance for the development of football in Xinjiang.

As mentioned at the beginning, the development of Chinese youth football, the focus is on campus football and professional youth training system, especially after the implementation of the "Overall Plan for the Reform and Development of Chinese Football" in 2015, campus football has developed in an all-round way, the professional youth training system has a wider selection of materials, and Chinese youth football has begun to recover and rebound: 00 to 02 The three national youth and national youth teams have missed the Asian Youth Championship and the Asian Youth Championship, but then the 03, 04, 05, 06 and 08 age groups have fully returned to the Asian Youth Championship and the Asian Youth Championship. 05 National Youth and 08 National Youth are going all out to impact the World Youth Championships and World Junior Championships.

However, a key problem is that the current level of campus football development varies greatly, only a very few schools have full-time football coaches and lack of skills, and more schools have extensive campus football, and its training model even violates the law of football development.

For this point, Japanese school football has a very mature approach, that is, a large number of social youth training institutions have become the support for the development of campus football, and they can provide professional training, including corresponding special training, such as initiation training, dribbling training and other intensive training.

In recent years, the social youth training institutions of Chinese football have ushered in a blowout development, taking the third China Youth Championship in 2024 (this is the only national event that social youth training institutions can participate in) as an example, the top 12 of the men's U13 group, there are only 2 Chinese Super League echelons, and there are as many as 6 social youth training institutions (including those that cooperate with schools). In recent years, Henan's social youth training institutions have achieved excellent results.

Xinjiang's social youth training institutions are also developing rapidly, and the "Huozhou Lunar New Year Cup" is a good example. On the eve of the Spring Festival, the reporter learned during his visit to Artush and Kashgar that Artush City (county level) has 10 social youth training institutions (youth football clubs), and Kashgar City (county level) has more than 20.

Xu Ming, chairman of the Xinjiang Football Association, told reporters that in the development plan of Xinjiang football, campus football and community football will develop in tandem, of which community football serves community residents on the one hand; On the other hand, it will comprehensively help campus football, provide professional training for campus football, and finally gradually build a perfect football system in Xinjiang, including a professional system, on the basis of the development of youth football. Community football clubs, in fact, are also another development model for social youth training institutions.