Top tiers of Chinese, English football swap notes in Hainan

The 2025 Chinese Professional Football League–Premier League Youth Football Development Exchange, co-hosted by the Chinese Professional Football League (CFL) and the English Premier League, took place in Haikou, Hainan, last week.

CFL Chair Li Kemin, Vice-chair Yang Xu and Premier League China Managing Director Jay Li, along with other representatives from both organizations, attended last Thursday's opening ceremony.

In her remarks, Li underscored that youth training forms the foundation of football development, saying that "only with deep roots can the branches flourish". She described the exchange as a major initiative in advancing the CFL's "open league" concept and deepening reform of the football sector in China. Li added that she hoped participants would seize the opportunity to promote new ideas and practices in youth training.

"This exchange will build a solid bridge for Sino-British cooperation in youth football development," Li said.

The two-day event focused on topics such as innovation in youth training philosophy, player development pathways and coaching systems. The English delegation included senior figures from the Premier League and several leading clubs, including Edd Vahid, head of academy football operations at the Premier League; Sean Reed, head of coaching at the Premier League; and Arsenal legend Per Mertesacker, now academy manager at the London club.

They were joined by Ben Smith, head of coaching development at Brighton & Hove Albion, and Sunderland's academy manager Robin Nicholls.

The Chinese delegation included Chen Qingyun of the Chinese Football Association's Youth Department; Ma Baogang, training and competitive director at Shandong Taishan; and Manabu Kawai, head of youth development at Meizhou Hakka. Around 130 representatives from 52 clubs across China's three professional tiers attended the exchange.

The first day's program focused on the Elite Player Performance Plan, with case studies illustrating player development frameworks, coaching pathways and academy leadership models from both leagues. The program on the second day shifted to player growth and maturation, covering physical and mental development, motivation and career transition mechanisms for promoting deeper conceptual integration.

To enhance engagement, four thematic breakout sessions were held on Thursday evening, addressing "Youth Development Strategy and Club Planning", "Technology-Empowered Digital Youth Training", "Coach Development and Management Evaluation", and "Player Progression Pathways and Transfer Mechanisms". Each session was guided by experts from England and concluded with actionable recommendations.

Ahead of the conference, members of the English delegation joined Chinese coach Yu Dabao at the Chinese National Football (South) Training Base, where they observed matches from the Chinese Youth Football Elite League (U15 Division) and conducted on-field interactions with young players.

Caption: The 2025 Chinese Professional Football League–Premier League Youth Football Development Exchange was held in Haikou, Hainan last week.