Village soccer league,EPL ink partnership

China's Guizhou Rongjiang Village Super League, dubbed cunchao by netizens, on Saturday signed a memorandum of understanding with the English Premier League as part of a broader effort to boost exchanges in the soccer sector, according to officials from both sides.

The deal was struck between an administrative body in Rongjiang county, Guizhou province, that manages the rural soccer league and the EPL at an event on the sidelines of the China Beijing International Fair for Trade in Services.

According to the memorandum of understanding, the EPL will provide training courses to the Rongjiang league to promote soccer development in the local area.

In addition, the two sides will consider jointly organizing friendly matches.

Business representatives from the United Kingdom and their counterparts from Guizhou also signed other tourism and soccer-related memorandums of cooperation, which they said were part of efforts to promote trade and investment partnerships.

The annual fair, to which Britain sent more than 60 corporate and organizational participants,opened in the Chinese capital on Tuesday.

While addressing the event, Tom Duke, the British trade commissioner to China, congratulated the commercial success of the Rongjiang league, which initiated a national soccer tournament last month in the county, which is part of the Qiandongnan Miao and Dong autonomous prefecture.

He said that he wished his partners from Guizhou could visit the UK to study its soccer industry and exchange ideas.

The Rongjiang Village Super League started on May 13 and concluded on July 29 in the county. Featuring 20 teams comprising amateurs from local villages, the event received more than 30 billion views during the whole competition.

The down-to-earth nature of cunchao even attracted former England soccer star Michael Owen, who sent his congratulations via an online video. The initial success also led authorities in Rongjiang to initiate a national rural soccer tournament, which began last month and will run until Oct 28.