The 43rd 'Baidui Cup' Football Tournament has concluded in Beijing, setting a new participation record and introducing a groundbreaking two-track system. The event, which first began in 1984, is one of China's longest-running youth amateur football tournaments and the only national youth football event to have run continuously without interruption. This year, the tournament attracted 1,481 teams and more than 20,000 young players, reaching a new high in overall scale in recent years.
For the first time, the tournament moved beyond its previous format where teams of varying skill levels competed together. Instead, it established two separate tracks: the Popularization Group and the Competitive Group. The Popularization Group is open to all young football enthusiasts, championing 'joyful participation and free team formation.' It covers 14 age-based categories, from 6-year-olds to high school students. In the 6-year-old category, no rankings are recorded and all participants receive awards, with the aim of fostering interest and expanding the grassroots football base. The Competitive Group, on the other hand, is designed for professional club youth academy teams, sports schools, and school representative teams, covering 10 age categories from 8 to 17. Through high-level competition, it serves as a testing ground to improve the selection mechanism for reserve talent.
A representative from the Beijing Municipal Sports Bureau noted that the two-track system marks the Baidui Cup's transformation from a standalone amateur event into a comprehensive youth tournament system that equally emphasizes participation and excellence. This shift offers a valuable model for refining the youth football competition framework, not just in Beijing but potentially across the country.
The tournament also featured notable figures from the football world. Fu Ming, an international referee who officiated at the FIFA World Cup 2026™, took charge of Competitive Group matches and encouraged the young players to 'win on the condition that you enjoy the game.' Shao Jiayi, the tournament's image ambassador and head coach of the Chinese men's national football team, presented awards to the winning teams and encouraged the children to compete with courage.
The Baidui Cup has become more than just a competitive stage; it is a summer memory for generations of Beijing residents and a cultural touchstone of the city's sports identity. As one post-80s football enthusiast who participated in the tournament as a child and now coaches a team put it, 'The Baidui Cup is Beijing's very own World Cup for its children.' This sentiment underscores the tournament's enduring legacy and its importance in nurturing young talent and fostering a love for the game.
