Chinese football veteran Ou Chuliang (second from right) speaks at a forum organized by Spanish football league La Liga in Beijing on December 5, 2025. Photo: Courtesy of La Liga

At a recent forum in Beijing organized by top Spanish football league La Liga, two of China's football veterans, Yang Pu and Ou Chuliang, underlined the importance of education in developing youth footballers. 

For many Chinese children with football aspirations, reality often involves a punishing schedule: long school days, heavy coursework, then exhausting commutes to training facilities, returning home late to face another round of homework.

"Many of the young players often lack sufficient rest, a situation that isn't conducive to academic improvement nor to effective training or physical health," Ou, a former national team goalkeeping coach and currently technical director at the Chinese Super League club Yunnan Yukun, told the Global Times. 

"Such a life undermines both their education and athletic development."

Ou called for integrating football training into the school system. In such a model, children finish their classes, then transition directly to football training, eliminating the commute overhead and allowing more balanced time for rest and study, he argued.

"By integrating training into schools, we could dramatically reduce the burden on young players and thus could make football accessible, not just for a handful of prospects, but for all who want to play," Ou said. 

While Ou focused on integrating football into the school system, Yang highlighted another crucial aspect: the purpose and philosophy behind youth development itself.

Yang, now youth training director at Beijing Guoan FC, emphasized that youth training is not just about picking future professionals.

"Many of the children who took football training will eventually enter general society rather than professional football. Thus, youth coaches are first educators," Yang told the Global Times. 

"A good coach needs to understand how children think, because many of these kids will ultimately pursue paths outside professional football. Coaching is not just about football technique, but about mentoring adolescents, understanding their psychology and preparing them for both sports and society."

Spain's football success in recent years, including winning the 2024 European Championship and the Paris 2024 Olympics, has made many Chinese football coaches think about adapting to Spanish methodologies.

According to Juan Florit, head of La Liga's Football Development, the La Liga youth academy graduates played nearly 20 percent of all minutes in La Liga matches in the 2024-25 season, higher than any other major European leagues. 

Both Yang and Ou underlined that simply replicating Spain's model would not bear fruit in China due to the structural and cultural differences.

"The goal is not to replicate Spain blindly, but to learn from their passion and methodology, and adapt it into a genuinely Chinese model," Ou noted. 

Yang also called for reforms in the domestic competition system, as a more balanced schedule, rather than packing matches during winter or summer vacations, could improve young players' adaptability. 

"Matches are a mirror for training. Without frequent and consistent competition, training is directionless, and improvement is hard to measure," Yang said.