FC Bayern Football Schools & Partnerships
The sustainability of the partnerships lives mainly through the constant exchange of knowledge and regular presence of the highly qualified international FC Bayern youth coaches - both on-site in China and during visits to the partner coaches and training camps of the players in Munich. In this way, not only the training and youth philosophy, but also the brand and values of FC Bayern are transported to and within China.
The first FC Bayern Football School in China was officially opened in Qingdao (Shandong Province) in October 2016. In March 2017, FC Bayern announced the construction of another FC Bayern Football School in China in Shenzhen (Guangdong Province). The start of the FC Bayern Football School in Taiyuan (Shanxi Province) was announced in September 2018.
The football schools have a first-class sports facility including large and small fields, as well as state-of-the-art rehabilitation and physiotherapy facilities in the future.
As a first step, we are intensively working together with our FC Bayern Football School partners to train the local sports teachers and coaches. Thanks to the regular presence of our FC Bayern coaches, more than 650 Chinese sports teachers and football coaches have already been trained. A foundation of very well-trained coaches is a central building block in order to be able to advance the training of Chinese players in the future.
In addition, there is an excellent connection to the Ministry of Education (MOE), the education office in China. In July and August 2018, a total of 10 FC Bayern coaches were in China for several weeks to conduct camps for players, as well as training courses and workshops for coaches and sports teachers. With these coaching assignments, the German record champion supports the Ministry of Education (MOE) of China in the implementation of the Chinese youth football project. In 2019 a total of 15 FC Bayern coaches went to various cities in China in January, July and August to continue the camps with the Chinese Ministry of Education.
Two FCB coaches flew out to Taiyuan at the start of September to hold the first coaching courses in the capital of the Chinese province of Shanxi. After laying the foundation for the third FC Bayern Football School in China back in June of this year, now the next step in the establishment of sport in this area has followed.
FC Bayern Youth Cup
The FC Bayern Youth Cup is the world's biggest and oldest international youth football tournament series carried out by a football club. The FC Bayern Youth Cup was first held in China in 2012 and has been continued annually ever since. Together with the Chinese Ministry of Education (MoE), the project was implemented again in 2019.
Already in the summer of 2018, more than 2,500 youngsters were trained and evaluated by a total of 10 FC Bayern coaches during the MOE Junior Summer Camps in the cities of Chengdu, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Jingzhou. The best players received an invitation for the so-called MoE Winter Camp. Thanks to the great cooperation with the Ministry of Education in China, more than ten international FC Bayern coaches were active in China to select the National Final players from several thousand participants.
The National Final of the FC Bayern Youth Cup China 2019 took place from the 5th to 7th of April 2019. As in the last two years, the decisive selection tournament was again held at the FC Bayern Football School Qingdao. Twenty players from all over China qualified for this special tournament through the various preliminaries of the Ministry of Education (regional Summer Camps, the national Summer Camp and the national MOE Winter Camp). FC Bayern Ambassador Giovane Elber was present at the Opening Ceremony on the 6th of April, giving the boys valuable tips and even training with the youngsters. After the tournament, our FC Bayern coaches selected the most talented youngsters, who were then allowed to travel to Munich for the World Final of the FC Bayern Youth Cup.
The selected players were looking forward to a 5-day training camp with FC Bayern in Munich and many other highlights. Besides a "Freestyle Football Challenge", the personal Meet & Greet with Manuel Neuer was an unforgettable experience for the players. On Saturday, the youngsters visited the last Bundesliga home game in the Allianz Arena, including the championship party, before the boys entered the "sacred grass" the next day to determine the winner of the FC Bayern Youth Cup 2019. Team China faced the teams from India, USA, Singapore, Thailand, Nigeria and Germany and reached a strong third place in the end.
In 2020, due to the COVID-19-Pandemic, the 9th consecutive edition of the Youth Cup sadly had to be rescheduled. We are hoping to bring the project back to China in 2021 and see the Chinese team compete in the world final.
The participation in the FC Bayern Youth Cup China is only possible via the camps of the Ministry of Education.
