Evergrande Real Madrid Football School in ITV’s documentary film

British television company ITV produced a short film about the football school of Evergrande FC, Evergrande Real Madrid Soccer School. Evergrande is one of the top football clubs in China, having just won Chinese Super League for the fourth time in a row. 

At the beginning of the film, the camera filmed the entire campus from an airplane. Then they introduced some routines of students, such as morning assemblies. Their reporter also interviewed one Spanish coach about students and the problems they discovered in their studying and training. 

ITV tries to express contradictions in the school itself, and between the students and expectation for them. As is explained by ITV, the Evergrande Football School campus looks like a masterpiece by Disneyland, filled with European-style buildings with blue towers, but that the surrounding walls of the campus are of Chinese traditional style. The video indicates that the students face some problems in study and training, and at the same time they are expected to fulfill a national dream about football. 

All filmed students are very young, seemingly between the age of 8 to 14. As is pointed out in the video, many Chinese parents would prefer a normal school education than sending their children to football schools. 

At the moment, a popular argument in China is that Chinese football lacks youth training and a good training system, which is a concerning threat to Chinese football. 

Evergrande Real Madrid Soccer School was established in 2012 in Guangdong Province by Evergrande Group. The first investment was RMB 1.1 billion. Under collaboration with the Real Madrid Football Club, football coaches are solely provided by Real Madrid FC. The school covers elementary school, middle school, and high school sections, and has a separate campus in Spain.