St. George’s Park had the honour of hosting the U21 squad of top Chinese Super League team Shanghai SIPG.
After an initial week based at Manchester City’s Academy, in association with PSC Ltd and FIFA licensed Match Agent, Mark Taylor, the squad spent over a month in the East Midlands during March and April in preparation for an elite U21 tournament in China taking place from 24 - 29 June.
Their camp consisted of 10 friendly games, five of which [against Fleetwood Town, Port Vale, Rotherham United, Fulham and Burton were hosted at the home of England’s 28 national teams].
Mark Taylor said: "Through our Chinese partners we had been told that SIPG were keen to invest in their young players’ development and to improve their own academy further.
“We therefore presented SGP to them and told the club about of the successes of England’s youth teams over the last 18 months.
“It was stressed to us that the team did not just want a ‘training camp’ as such, but wanted to learn the practices and methods that the FA and English Academies have been using in recent years.
“They asked us to add some key staff to work full-time with the team while they were in the UK - with coaching staff, fitness, medical and sport science backgrounds, as well as putting a good games programme in place.
"The improvements made by the players can be seen in the results of their games - the first five games they won one (with a late goal), drew one and lost three (a couple of those quite heavy defeats), whereas in their last five games they won three (scoring 13 goals in these three wins), narrowly lost a good contest with Fulham and then drew 1-1 with Wolves U21s’ at Molineux.”
Iain Brunskill, Head Coach for SIPG’s U21 team and former youth coach at Blackburn Rovers and Bolton Wanderers added: “The facilities at SGP are second to none and the level of the players has significantly increased over the six weeks, particularly physically.”
A number of key FA staff members including Neil Dewsnip [England men’s U18 head coach], Steve Cooper [England men’s U17 head coach], Rhys Long [head of performance analysis and insight], and Martin Diggle [head of professional game coach development] held talks and training sessions with the team during their stay.
Mr Cheng Yao Dong, Head of SIPG's Academy and the China U19 national team coach said: "Overall the meetings we have had with the FA have been hugely beneficial.
“The facilities at St. George’s Park are excellent and players have gained a lot from this trip."
SIPG’s time in England not only culminated in the game against Wolves but also a visit to England from SIPG’s President and Directors, where they enjoyed a full tour of St. George’s Park and met with their English FA counterparts to discuss ‘grassroots and Academy football’ with Les Howie.
