Former China international striker Yang Chen poses with Borussia Dortmund fans during a promotional event hosted by the Bundesliga club in Beijing on July 18, 2021. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

Raising the standard of coaching by cooperating with foreign leagues is pivotal to China's chances of future success on the soccer pitch. That's the view of former China international Yang Chen, who also wants to see more young Chinese talents test themselves abroad－just like he did in Germany with Eintracht Frankfurt.

"A key to soccer youth training is the quality of the coaches. I think a focus now is how to nurture more good youth coaches in China, which will make the youth training work much easier," the 47-year-old Yang, who is the Bundesliga's ambassador in China, told China Daily at a Borussia Dortmund fan event in Beijing last Sunday.

"Many foreign soccer leagues have cooperation with us in terms of youth training. Bundesliga clubs, for example, now send their coaches to China to help train our young players.

"We should also nurture better youth coaches of our own. Chinese coaches are trying hard to gain more experience. The advantage of Chinese coaches is that they have a better understanding of Chinese kids than the foreign coaches.

A major obstacle to Chinese kids lacing up their soccer boots is the huge academic pressure they face. But former China international Yang Chen is hopeful recent trends in physical education can help redress that imbalance

"A foreign coach may not fully understand what a Chinese kid is thinking, due to their different cultural and educational backgrounds. So they cannot just copy and paste their original methods of training and education to China."

A major obstacle to Chinese kids lacing up their soccer boots is the huge academic pressure they face. But Yang is hopeful recent trends in education can help redress that imbalance.

"In recent years, our nation has been trying to make some changes in physical education. We now attach more importance to sports classes. We need to give students more time to enjoy sports and enjoy soccer," said Yang, who coaches China's under-16 national squad.

"There are many students in China who can barely do a single chin-up or are unable to finish a dozen push-ups. Soccer has many benefits for kids, such as teaching them teamwork. The sport can be an inspiration to the next generation."

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Yang added that he is happy to see more cooperation with elite European clubs.

One of the most active of those clubs in China is Borussia Dortmund (aka BVB)－an organization that is synonymous with developing young talent, most recently the highly coveted Erling Haaland.

"We now have two outstanding Chinese kids playing in our academy, and we have cooperation with Beijing Sport University," Benjamin Wahl, who heads Dortmund's China office, told China Daily on Tuesday.

"Also Shandong Luneng (the Chinese Super League club now known as Shandong Taishan) is our partner club over here. From the professional to the grassroots side, we also have cooperation in Shanghai.

"The key value for BVB is youth development. Many of the world's top stars came from our club. The BVB DNA is about building young talents. That's exactly what China needs.

"It's not about buying old expensive players anymore, but rather educating the youth. The sport fits well here. That's why we are partnering up with universities, schools and football clubs."

Euro ambitions

Currently, Team China's sole representative in Europe's major leagues is striker Wu Lei, who plays for La Liga side Espanyol.

Chinese Football Association president Chen Xuyuan revealed last month that plans are afoot to encourage more players to follow in Wu's footsteps.

Also in a foreign club, our players should have enough playing time. They should not care too much if it's a big club, because at those clubs they might barely have an opportunity to step onto the pitch. Even if it's just a second-tier club, they can benefit a lot from the experience.

Yang Chen, former China international

Yang, who played in Germany for almost six years, hopes more young Chinese talents can step out of their comfort zones and give the European game a try.

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"First of all, before a Chinese player goes to a foreign league, he should have a solid foundation of skills and physical fitness," said Yang.

"Actually, I don't worry too much about difficulties such as language or culture. The kids can learn and fit in very fast in a new environment. Our kids, when they join a foreign team, they should learn from their foreign teammates.

"Also in a foreign club, our players should have enough playing time. They should not care too much if it's a big club, because at those clubs they might barely have an opportunity to step onto the pitch. Even if it's just a second-tier club, they can benefit a lot from the experience."

Having a Chinese player pulling on their shirt every week brings obvious commercial benefits for European clubs. However, Wahl told China Daily that this is a secondary consideration for Dortmund.

"Actually we were in talks with a Chinese player two years ago... it didn't work out back then, because of the timing of Olympic qualifying matches," Wahl revealed.

"But we wouldn't do it as a marketing thing. If you bring a Chinese player here, you would have a huge buzz right away. If we do it, we do it right, with the BVB approach."

Marketing matters

Yang believes that Germany's 2014 World Cup victory helped boost the Bundesliga's appeal with Chinese fans.

Dortmund, for instance, opened its office in Shanghai in 2017, with the club's Chinese fan base mushrooming ever since.

"In 2017, we had three fan clubs－in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. Four years later, we have 19 fan clubs across the country, including a big one in Xi'an," said Wahl.

"We have been doing fan activities across the nation twice a month. We go to the city and we play football with the fans, then we go to the local cultural sites. In the evening we watch the game together.

"Many foreign clubs are just selling IP and logo rights in China. We are not going to change our brand in China. In Germany, we are famous for our passion. So if we go to China, we are not just about selling rights. We need to be closer to the fans too. That's why we are organizing and investing in these fan activities."

Social media and the gaming sector are increasingly important tools for clubs to reach young fans, although Dortmund is attempting to tailor its approach to e-sports.

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"We have social media accounts on nine Chinese platforms covering all the channels. For each platform, you have different strategies," Wahl explained.

"For BVB, we want to be close to gaming culture too. But it's a tough decision for us. We decided at our headquarters six months ago, we are not going to do games like Dota or League of Legends. If we do something with e-sports, we stick with football. So we wouldn't call this e-sports, we would call it e-football. In Germany, we have set up a team and they have started to play e-football now."