Germans kick in with expertise

While President Xi Jinping and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have drawn a blueprint for top-level soccer cooperation between the two countries, grassroots exchanges among clubs, organizations and companies are flourishing.

Bundesliga teams like Bayern Munich, Schalke and Bayer Leverkusen are frontrunners in helping develop the Chinese game through friendly matches, soccer academies and training camps.

This month, Leverkusen and Hansum Sports opened training camps in three cities - Dunhuang, Gansu province, Weinan, Shaanxi province and Taizhou, Jiangsu province - hoping the advanced German youth training system will benefit young players and coaches in China's elementary and high-school programs.