Field of dreams far from home

Guangdong Fuli Soccer School is located in Yanyang township, Meizhou, Guangdong province. Although thousands of kilometers from Kashgar prefecture in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, the school has become a hub for many students from that area hoping to realize their dreams of becoming professional soccer players.

Since 2017, the Guangdong government has helped Xinjiang improve its soccer facilities as well as the skills of its young players. As a demonstration county, Shufu, in the city of Kashgar, has become the first beneficiary of the program.

Ten middle schools and 12 primary schools in the county have received financial support from Guangdong to upgrade their training facilities. More than 500 students from different ethnic groups have also received training from professional soccer coaches.

In January last year, a winter training camp for young soccer players from Shufu was held at the Guangdong Fuli Soccer School. A total of 22 young players from the county were trained by the school's foreign soccer coaches. During the camp, they also played games against young local players.

At the end of this year, another training camp for young players from Xinjiang will be held at the school. So far, three Xinjiang soccer players who received training at the school have been chosen for the national youth team.