An influential figure in Chinese football has said that encouraging young players to abandon their societal shackles is critical for progress, as the World Football Summit began on Wednesday in Hong Kong.
Staged at AsiaWorld-Expo, the industry powwow has attracted around 4,000 attendees for a series of panel discussions covering topics from the growth of women’s football, through smart stadiums, to the depths and vision of the Chinese football landscape.
Speaking on the latter panel, Pere Garcia, the sporting director of Henan FC and a consultant for the Chinese Football Association (CFA), said the country would benefit from regularly posting players, coaches, physiotherapists, analysts and administrators to Europe, “so they come back and make our football stronger”.
After more than a decade on the mainland, he acknowledged that a typically rigid, academically focused society was not a natural breeding ground for international footballers.
“Football is about decision making, so the culture and education can make it very complicated when you want to transmit the idea to players of creativity, and to forget about mistakes on the pitch,” Garcia told the Post.
“It’s crucial youngsters have autonomy to make their own decisions, and that we have an environment to protect them when they make mistakes.
