Shanghai SIPG senior team players during an AFC Champions League match. (Photo : Getty Images)
Chinese Super League squad Shanghai SIPG FC had reportedly released the names of 12 of their partner football schools and youth training organizations all over the country on Sunday at the Shanghai Regal International East Asia Hotel. The move is under the team's program called "Infinite Future" that aims to bolster its youth program, ensuring the future talent resource of the club.
Shanghai Daily indicated that the program, which was launched in November of last year, intends to establish Shanghai SIPG football training centers in accredited schools that are "known for their effort in cultivating students' interest in football".
SIPG is set to provide comprehensive training and coaching assistance while the selected schools or training organizations will be the ones to scout and choose the young talents who will go through the club's program.
"Together with the 11 partners announced last year, the club now has 23 training bases around the country," Red Eagles general manager Sui Guoyang said, as reported by Yutang Sports. "Youth players are the key to a club's long-term development."
"Infinite Future aims at building the club's youth player supply system, so that we can produce our own star players in the future," he added.
The recently chosen schools and training organizations are all based in the Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, Shanxi, Hubei, and Sichuan provinces of China.
The report also said that the club is set to request for the help of prestigious football personalities and experts, such as former women's national football team skipper Sun Wen, to provide talks and lessons to the coaching staff of each training base, which they can also hand down to the students.
SIPG finished as runners-up to five straight CSL champions Guangzhou Evergrande last season, their best finish in club history so far in the Chinese top flight competitions. The team further improved their scoring options after acquiring Brazilian striker Elkeson from Guangzhou during the recent winter transfer window for a then Chinese transfer record of €18.5 million.
The team, currently managed by Swedish head coach and former England manager Sven-Göran Eriksson, had a shaky start to the new CSL season, though, losing to Henan Jianye in their season opener then settling for a 1-1 draw during a Shanghai derby second game.
There are four Shanghai SIPG players in the present China PR squad as of the moment, namely goalkeeper Yan Junling, midfielder Cai Huikang, and forwards Yu Hai and Wu Lei.
