Two China youth football teams will next month head to Gothenburg, Sweden for the world's largest youth tournament, the Gothia Cup, to compete with teams from all over the world, according to a news conference held in Shanghai Wednesday.
"The teams will be on the same stage at Gothenburg with over 30,000 thousand players," Erik Nelander, the President of SKF China, a Sweden-based manufacturing company and also the sponsor of the competition, said at the conference.
"Hope you not only enjoy the matches and sunshine over there, but also make as many friends as you can," Nelander said.
One of the teams heading to Sweden is a girls' outfit from Dalian No. 6 Middle School in Liaoning Province, which has won the annual Dalian Mayer Cup every year since it began in 2004.
The other is a boys' team from Pengcheng Hope School in Sandu Shui Ethnic Autonomous County in Guizhou Province, which came third out of 33 teams from around the world that took part in the China Hope Project Sports Competition in 2008.
"I'm honored to be taking part in the competition as one of the representatives of youth in poverty stricken areas," Pan Yadong, a 13-year-old seventh-grade student and also the captain of the team, told the Global Times Wednesday.
The team does not have access to a grass pitch, and has had to train on earth and sand grounds, according to Wei Guohong, the president of the Pengcheng Hope School.
"They work very hard even though they usually get injured during training. Because of them, most local kids love football more than before," Wei told the Global Times.
