Ahead of the opening of the 26th "Beibei Cup" Youth Football Tournament 2025, the "Future Classroom: Getting together on the Pitch and Building Future Football Dream" was jointly held by the China Soong Ching Ling Foundation (CSCLF), the Chinese Football Association (CFA) and Zhangjiagang Municipal People's Government in Zhangjiagang of East China's Jiangsu province on the morning of July 16.
The future classroom event drew the attendance of Shen Beili, Vice-Chairperson of the CSCLF, Yang Xu, Vice-President of the CFA, and Liang Xi, Vice-Mayor of Zhangjiagang. Other participants included representatives of young football players of the 26th "Beibei Cup" Youth Football Tournament 2025, and 230 teachers as well as students from Zhangjiagang, who jointly kicked off a journey to showcase youths' passion for football and ignite their enthusiasm as well as dream.
Shen announced the opening of the future classroom event. She said that the football tournament is not only a platform for young contestants to enjoy competition and demonstrate personal skills but also a means for them to forge teamwork spirit and further discipline personal will. She asked them to seek full self-expression, exhibit personal vitality, embrace relevant joys, reinforce physical health for future study and life, gain a deep understanding of inclusiveness and cooperation, foster an unyielding spirit, and strive to be well-rounded youths with great sense of responsibility and mission in the new era.
Liang said that the "Beibei Cup" Youth Football Tournament has become an iconic football contest in Zhangjiagang and has been successfully held for 26 editions. It has developed into the earliest and most influential nationwide youth football tournament with the largest times. He introduced that Zhangjiagang has always attached great importance to the development of youth football and taken concrete measures to help youths fall in love with and take part in football matches, make it a habit to get involved in sports competitions, let football to be part of their study and life, and further improve the physical health of youths.
The future classroom event was co-chaired by Liu Jianhong, a member of the CSCLF Council, and Zhang Xinyue, a student of Fenghuang Central Primary School of Zhangjiagang. Yang Chen and Zhao Junzhe, both of whom used to take part in the "Beibei Cup" Youth Football Tournament and have become well-known players in domestic football league, joined Jiang Kewei, a coach of the 2025 Jiangsu Football City League, to share their football stories, demonstrate personal love toward football, and convey their football philosophies featuring health, happiness and progress along with the commitment to patriotism, collectivism and teamwork. Youths listened to their stories with laughing and reflections in turns, creating a warm and lively atmosphere.
During the "Football Playground" session, Yang, Zhao and Jiang engaged in football matches and other interactive games with young attendees, bringing the atmosphere to a new height. Students run with sweats and showed personal talent as well as skills, receiving thunderous applause from the audience.
Before the conclusion of the future classroom event, many students wrote down their football-related dreams on the model trophy of the "Beibei Cup" Youth Football Tournament. The model trophies were quickly pasted with their best wishes such as "I love football," "I want to become an international star," "I hope Chinese football to be more stronger" and "I want to win a football match with my teammates". Guests at the event drew and read these wishes loudly, sent their blessings to those youths, and encouraged them to fight for personal dream through hard work and perseverance.
"I am extremely happy to attend the future classroom event because it has ignited my passion for football and helped me find new methods to relieve learning pressure," said Zhang Yuqing from Fenghuang Middle School in Zhangjiagang. "I am delighted to be there with other children. We get together to play games and football, engage in mutual learning and acquire many new skills," said a child from Xinjiang Soong Ching Ling Football School.
Those in attendance of the event also included Liu Ying, Deputy Director of the CSCLF Department for Fund Management Affairs, Zhao Jun, Vice-Director of the China Soong Ching Ling Science & Culture Center for Young People, Xi Yesong, an award-winner of the National May Day Labor Medal and a founder of the "Beibei Cup" Youth Football Tournament, Xu Xichun, Party Secretary of Fenghuang Township, and Zhou Ying, head of Zhangjiagang Bureau of Culture, Sports, Radio and Tourism.
The "Future Classroom" event is an extracurricular education innovation platform established by the CSCLF in 2018 to foster virtue through education and nurture a new generation of talents with a balanced development in morality, intelligence, physical fitness, aesthetics, and labor skills. During the past years, the public welfare initiative has invited influential and reputable figures from various fields to give lectures to primary and middle school students about such topics as morality, physical fitness, aesthetics and labor, imparting knowledge to them. So far, it has become a popular extracurricular educational activity.
