Ten-year-old Aiertuge Maimaitiaili hopes to play for China’s national team. At the Shenzhen–Kashgar Youth Football Training Base in Kashgar, Xinjiang, that ambition is part of a wider effort to give children access to coaching, matches and opportunities to meet players from other places.

In a report published on November 13, 2026, The Paper spoke with Aiertuge and another 10-year-old player, Laizina Abuduhemiti. Both described football as a way to make friends as well as pursue their sporting ambitions. Laizina said she had trained for two years and wanted to keep going despite disappointments on the pitch.

The base was built with support from Shenzhen’s assistance program for Xinjiang. Construction was completed in 2023. Kashgar’s municipal authorities and the Xinjiang Football Association signed an operating agreement in June 2024, and the base began operating that July.

Base director Chen Jianfei said Kashgar’s school-football program dates to 2011, when all 43 of the city’s primary and secondary schools were included in a national campus-football initiative. He said the base now has 400 selected players and 20 teams, with coaches working in schools on weekdays and bringing selected players to the base on weekends. School holidays provide time for concentrated training.

Matches are another part of the program. According to The Paper, the base had hosted nine regional-level league events, three national-level league events and multiple local competitions, receiving about 60,000 students for matches and exchanges by the time of its report. Chen said players from the base had earned nearly 70 honors in competitions around China since operations began, and four had joined teams connected to China’s youth national squads.

For coach Xierwani Kuerban, who left Kashgar at 12 to train in Guangzhou and returned after university, the increase in matches and training opportunities has been especially encouraging for girls. Coach Abudukahaer Keyoumu, whose group of 22 players includes two girls, said balancing training, competition and schoolwork remains a challenge for children and their families.

Source: m.thepaper.cn (originally published 2026-11-13 07:33 UTC+8)