The People's Republic of China has been developing national football development plans for more than 15 years. The one conceived in 2014 with the aim of becoming a footballing superpower by 2025 evidences China’s intention.

In the previous national development plan, in 2011 the Chinese Football Association (CFA) planned the creation of a High-Performance Centre in Catalonia where Chinese players would be permanently shaped under Spanish methodology.

After being part of the technical sub-directorate of the Catalan Football Federation 2009-2011, at Soccer Services Barcelona we had the mission to select the best Chinese players in U15 and U17 categories who would later launch the program. To that end, we travelled to China for a season, where we visited all the country's prefectures analysing a multitude of young players from all over the territory. Besides, we held regular meetings with the Chinese National Team coaches of that age group, and with coaches whose teams were qualifying for the prefectures’ final phases.

Finally, a total of 44 players were selected (22 from U15 and 22 from U17) to be part of the only high-performance Chinese centre in Catalonia. At the same time and in parallel, a report was made detailing the strategic development both for the training of coaches, the development and organization of Chinese competitions, as well as for the development of teaching units in the country's schools.