Young guns to leave for overseas

BEIJING - Twenty-four young Chinese footballers will head for Portugal for a two-year program at the end of this month.

All the players, to be dispersed between eight or nine Portuguese second and third-tier clubs will seal their contracts with the clubs on Friday, and will take part in the country's junior leagues this month after registering with the Portuguese Football Federation.

"The CFA sent a group of youngsters to Brazil in 1990s, among them a lot of players that emerged as the elite of Chinese soccer, and some even play nowadays in their 30s," said Wei Di, vice-chief of the Chinese Football Association (CFA).