The 26th "Beibei Cup" Youth (U12 Boys) Football Tournament, jointly hosted by the China Soong Ching Ling Foundation (CSCLF), the Chinese Football Association (CFA), and the Zhangjiagang City People's Government of East China's Jiangsu Province, opened at Fenghuang Township of Zhangjiagang on July 16. Li Bin, Vice-Chairperson of the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and Chairperson of the CSCLF, attended and announced the opening of the youth football tournament.
The opening ceremony brought together Shen Beili, Secretary of the Leading Party Members' Group and Vice-Chairperson of the CSCLF, Chen Zhenning, Former Vice-Director of the Standing Committee of Jiangsu Provincial People's Congress and President of Jiangsu Sports Development Foundation, Yang Xu, Vice-Chairperson of the CFA, Wang Xiaopeng, President of the China Football Development Foundation (CFDF), Ge Yurong, Deputy Secretary-General of the Jiangsu Provincial Committee of the CPPCC, Xiao Aihua, Vice-Director of Jiangsu Administration of Sports, and Cha Yingdong, Vice-Mayor of Suzhou, Jiangsu.
The football tournament drew the attendance of 16 delegations with nearly 300 people from 12 provincial-level regions at home, the Republic of Korea (ROK) and Thailand.
In her speech at the ceremony, Shen said that President Xi Jinping, also General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, has placed great emphasis on the development of youth sports and had high expectation for youth football. She noted that the CSCLF has firmly adhered to Madame Soong Ching Ling's conviction of creating the future and organized a series of colorful youth sports-oriented public welfare programs with wide influence. Since its inception in 1983, the "Beibei Cup" Youth Football Tournament has built a diverse exchange platform for young football enthusiasts and inspired a large number of youths to devote themselves to football and chase personal football dreams. Additionally, it has attached great importance to the development of such virtues as physical fitness, teamwork, coordination and perseverance among children and teenagers, supporting their all-round development.
Han Wei, Party Chief of Zhangjiagang City and Zhangjiagang Bonded Zone, said that under the tremendous support of the CSCLF, the CFA and the CFDF, Zhangjiagang has successfully held many editions of the "Beibei Cup" Youth Football Tournament and nurtured a larger number of outstanding football players for the Chinese national football team. There are also lots of football players in the 2025 Jiangsu Football City League who used to take part in the youth football tournament. He said that the city will proactively explore new models and approaches for promoting youth football development and transform the youth football tournament into a fertile land for young football players in the realization of personal dream, a forefront for international youth football cultural exchanges, and an international sports brand of itself.
The football tournament is scheduled to be held from July 16 to 22 with 48 matches. It will also hold a training session for extraordinary youth football coaches and a training camp for outstanding football players. The competition teams include those which have shown extraordinary performance in the China Youth Football League and other national youth football contests, and represent key football development cities and the pilot areas for the integrated development between sports and education in western China, and the Soong Ching Ling football schools in Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region and Yanbian of Jilin Province. Meanwhile, it is the first time for Ulsan of the ROK and Thai Muangthong to send their teams to attend the Chinese youth football tournament.
At the opening ceremony, youths from Beijing and Zhangjiagang gave their shows of Chinese drums, chorus, opera-adapted gymnastics and Mount Heyang Children's Song, which is on the list of the state-level intangible cultural heritages. Young football players from China, the ROK and Thailand jointly performed the youth football tournament's theme song titled "Young Dream Chasers", elevating the ceremony to a climax.
Afterward, a friendly match was held between Zhejiang FC Quzhou United Team and Zhangjiagang Beibei Team, with Yang kicking off the match. Zhao Junzhe and Yang Chen, who used to take part in the "Beibei Cup" Youth Football Tournament and have become football stars at home, Zuo Junjie and Xiao Xuhui, who are football players of the Jiangsu Football City League, joined the two teams to provide children with a live training session.
