July 25 – Bayern Munich’s Football School Shenzhen has been officially launched by Bayern chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and president Uli Hoeness in the southern Chinese city.
The initiative, announced last March, will open with about 1,000 students and will include a training centre with 16 football pitches (6 full-size pitches and 10 five-a-side pitches), working space for doctors, coaches, classrooms, halls and a boarding house.
The majority of the students are expected to come from the Shenzen area which has a population of 17 million people.
Germany’s Bundesliga, national football association and clubs have had a concerted push to establish strong football and trading links with China. Bayern have opened an office in Shanghai. The FC Bayern Football School Shenzhen is a product of those initiatives.
This school will also provide Shenzhen’s football coaches and PE teachers with training courses adopting Bayern’s youth training resources and methodology, as well as organising matches and training courses for Bayern in Shenzhen.
“What we saw proves to us that football in China, and in particular in Shenzhen, is on the right path,” said Rummenigge. He also promised Zhongde Sports director Peng Haibin and deputy mayor Hu: “Our coaches will have a continuous exchange of ideas with them. They will visit here and there are plans for their coaches and players to regularly visit Munich. I am sure that we can help to improve the quality of football in China.”
Zhongde Sports Investment (Shenzhen) Co is a joint venture company established by Shenzhen Investment Holdings and China Sports Futurity Investment that is taking responsibility for the project’s construction and operation. The project is backed by the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the People’s Government of Shenzhen.
Bayern are in China for a pre-season tournament in the International Champions Cup. Three days ago they drew with Arsenal 1-1 in Shanghai but yesterday lost 4-0 to AC Milan at Shenzhen’s Longgang Stadium. They now move on to Singapore where they will play Chelsea and Inter Milan.
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