Young Chinese players to join top Spanish clubs

BEIJING - Ninety young Chinese, aged 12 and 13, will join the youth teams of Spanish La Liga clubs Atletico Madrid, Valencia and Villarreal for three years, the Chinese Football Association (CFA) and local company Dalian Wanda announced in Beijing on Sunday.

The program is part of CFA's multi-million dollar deal with Wanda, which was reached in July, in which the company signed on to inject 500 million yuan ($77.3 million) over three years to boost the sport in China, including 120 million yuan to be used as part of the CFA's "Future Star" overseas program.

The company stated it would add another 80 million yuan to the youth project and increase the number of young players heading to Spain from 60 to 90 at Sunday's press conference. Yin Hai, vice-president of Dalian Wanda Group, also said the company would renew the contract for another three years if the program reached certain targets in the first three years.