Real Madrid youth team to lead field in China's internationals

Spanish Real Madrid will lead a field of several champions in the 2016 Luneng Weifang Cup International Youth Football Tournament, which will be held between July 24 and 30 in Weifang, Shandong Province, the organizer announced here on Tuesday.

According to Qian Guanghua, vice president of Shandong Luneng Taishan Football School that co-organizer the tournament, eight teams are invited this year, including six foreign clubs and two Chinese teams. The teams, all fielding young players under 19, will be divided into two groups and play altogether 20 games.

This year' s tournament, 10th of its kind, will for the first time see the participation of Spanish giants Real Madrid, joined by other big names including Portuguese champions Benfica, the Cup' s defending champions Wolfsburg of the German Bundesliga, and Mexico' s Guadalajara who have claimed 11 first-division titles domestically.

"This year' s teams are the strongest to date, so we have reasons to believe that this year' s tournament will bring many wonderful games to the fans," Qian said.

"The main goal of us participating in this year' s Weifang Cup is to make friends through football," said Wu Youwen, Real Madrid' s chief executive officer for the Asia Pacific, adding that the club, the only elite European club to base its Asia Pacific headquarters in China, has always paid great attention to the development of Chinese football, especially among the youth.

"We don' t have a concrete goal set for the tournament, we come to take this opportunity to share experience with other teams, hoping that all the teams will play to their best," Wu said.

Paulo Swerts, China representative of the U.S. club Fort Lauderdale Strikers - debutants of the Weifang Cup -- said the tournament is the "first step toward a long-term project of positioning Chinese football together with American football, and make the world connected through a football web where people can exchange experience and knowledge."

The retired Brazilian legend Ronaldo is one of the shareholders of the U.S. team, and Swerts, as chief executive officer of Ronaldo Football (China) Co., Ltd, said he would do his best to invite Ronaldo to attend the Weifang Cup in person even though the super star is having a busy schedule this year due to the upcoming Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

Qi Jun, an official from the Chinese Football Association, said the Weifang Cup has during the past 10 years established a platform for Chinese football players to communicate with the world and enabled young Chinese players to play at home against some of the world' s best clubs, which has gained them precious experience.

Since the inception of the Weifang Cup in 2006, a total of 1,729 players representing 81 teams from 22 countries have participated in the games, making the annual tournament a signature youth football event in Asia.

The opening game of this year' s Weifang Cup will feature the Chinese U19 national team and the youth team of Real Madrid.