Guangxi promotes youth football exchanges with Taiwan

Youth football players from Taipei and Guangxi compete in a five-a-side match. [Photo by Zhai Liqian/chinanews.com]

The 2019 Guangxi-Taiwan Youth Five-a-side Football Match kicked off in Beihai, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region on July 18.

Held by the Taiwan Affairs Office of the People's Government of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and the Guangxi Sports Bureau, the event aimed to further strengthen the cultural and sports exchanges between teenagers in Guangxi and Taiwan, deepen friendship, promote the development of youth football exchanges and cooperation, as well as raise the standards of football in Guangxi and Taiwan.

The three-day competition was attended by 15 teams from Beihai, Nanning, and Liuzhou of Guangxi, as well as Taipei.

Beihai and Taiwan have extended a series of distinctive exchange activities since the launch of its bilateral exchange of youth arts and sports in 2014, including the Guangxi-Taiwan (Beihai) Youth Five-a-side Football Match and the Beihai-Hualien Youth Football Match hosted by Beihai and Hualien since 2015.

Youth football players of Taipei do warm up exercises before the match. [Photo by Zhai Liqian/chinanewws.com]

Zhang Yongjun, director of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the Beihai government, said that the youth football matches promote exchanges and mutual trust between the two places, as well as provide opportunities for youth from Taiwan to learn more about the Chinese mainland. The exchange events have brought good results. Some teenagers from Taiwan have been attracted to study and practice football in Beihai, and several coaches from Taiwan have chosen to develop their career in Beihai.

Zhang Zhaolu, president of the Taipei Five-a-side Football Association, said that the development of five-a-side football between the two places has achieved mutual promotion through exchanges.

Youth football players from Taipei and Guangxi compete in a five-a-side match. [Photo by Zhai Liqian/chinanewws.com]