Dutch legends Ruud Gullit, Marco van Basten and Frank Rijkaard join big-money football revolution in China
Former Holland internationals have been recruited by Chinese top bosses to help overhaul the nation's youth training system
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CHINA has recruited Dutch football legends Ruud Gullit, Marco van Basten and Frank Rijkaard in a bid to establish a coaching dream team that will overhaul the country’s youth system.
The trio, who all starred for Italian giants AC Milan and the Netherlands national team, were in Beijing this week for the inauguration of the new Huaaoqidi Youth Training Academy.
The academy is part of a program which will see the three coaches establish a brand-new training regime across 200 schools in the city.
Frank Rijkaard, 53, who also successfully coached Barcelona to Champions League and La Liga glory, said: "We must ensure that children have fun in football."
And the scheme itself is just the beginning of a massive country-wide operation which will see 50,000 specialised football schools opened by 2025.
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The scheme, in agreement with the Beijing Campus Football Association, will also see the three retired players train 1,200 school PE teachers as football specialists over the next three years.
Huaaoqidi Youth Training Academy CEO Shan Lie told reporters that the three Dutchmen were there to provide hands-on support and to create a new curriculum for the teachers in an effort to produce what is hoped to be some of the finest talent in the world in the next few decades.
Mr Shan said: "We are planning to introduce the entire youth training system from the Netherlands and combine it with the Chinese way in every detail of the system."
The CEO is hoping that the new recruits, regarded by experts as some of the greatest players of all time, will be able to introduce the esteemed Dutch football philosophy to the Asian country.
Clubs from around the world often try to emulate what is known as ‘Total Football’ - the influential Dutch philosophy in which any outfield player can take over the role of any other player in the team.
And the Chinese officials believe the trio, two of which are also Ajax legends - the team known to have played some of the finest football in history - will be able to introduce the philosophy all over the country at a grass-roots level.