Budding young soccer players take a breather during a September training session at Guangzhou R&F Football Academy in Meizhou, Guangdong province. JOHANNES EISELE/AFP
Ajax, the Amsterdam giant which has produced so many Dutch masters, takes talent factory to Guangdong, AFP reports.
MEIZHOU, Guangdong province - "You let Glasgow score, what were you thinking?" plays a video, as a class of budding Chinese soccer players stare at a large screen, their backs ramrod straight and arms folded neatly on their desks.
This is the daily lesson in soccer English at the youth academy of Chinese Super League (CSL) side Guangzhou R&F.
Among these 11-year-old boys could be a Chinese Johan Cruyff.
That may sound unlikely, but Dutch giant Ajax has teamed up with R&F and together vowed to build the best soccer academy in China.
R&F is not even the most famous soccer club in its own city - that is seven-time CSL champion Guangzhou Evergrande.
But under coach Dragan Stojkovic, a legendary playmaker for the former Yugoslavia who won the Champions League with Marseille, R&F wants to play "the most beautiful soccer in China".
And while real-estate developer R&F has the deep pockets to shell out on expensive foreign players, it wants to focus on youth, in line with Chinese government policy.
That is where Ajax - renowned for developing the likes of Cruyff, Marco van Basten, Dennis Bergkamp, Patrick Kluivert and many others - comes in.
Kids are put through their paces at the school, which is co-run by Dutch giant Ajax. JOHANNES EISELE/AFP
Back to basics
"It's a long-term commitment we made with R&F of five years, but maybe we will need a couple more years because we have to start with the basics," said Ed Engelkes, technical director of R&F Academy.
"When the fundamentals are not good, you have to start all over."
The deal between Guangzhou R&F and Ajax was announced last November, but Engelkes and the three other coaches from the Amsterdam club are still getting their feet under the table.
The academy is in Meizhou, a city 400 kilometers (250 miles) from Guangzhou in the southern province of Guangdong and known for producing a number of Chinese players.
The academy has about 330 boys aged eight to 17, who live on the site, training and having school lessons.
The best boys come on a scholarship while the others pay. Many are local, but those from farther afield may see their parents just once or twice a year.
"That's quite a commitment to make," the 54-year-old Engelkes said, as youngsters fan out across the academy's pitches.
Kids are put through their paces at the school, which is co-run by Dutch giant Ajax. JOHANNES EISELE/AFP
Language lessons
Training is no-nonsense and sessions are captured on video for subsequent scrutiny.
One coach occasionally stops a match between 10-year-olds to bark instructions in English, which are then translated.
Patience is needed, Engelkes admits, especially because of language differences.
With the midday sun burning down - it is fiercely hot even in autumn - the boys then troop inside for a quick shower and their lesson in soccer English.
R&F says that it is the only Chinese club with such a class, although it is questionable how much of the video the well-drilled boys understand.
After a healthy canteen lunch of seafood, rice, salad and fruit, the trainees retreat to their dormitories for a nap. Mobile phones are only allowed on Saturday.
Sam, an 11-year-old striker from Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region in the far northwest, returns home just once a term.
His favorite player is Juventus striker Cristiano Ronaldo.
"He's very good at controlling the ball and scoring," Sam said.
Other European clubs have struck similar partnerships or have set up schools independently in China, though few can rival Ajax's reputation for youth development.
Engelkes wants to replicate in Meizhou the structure at Ajax HQ that has been so successful down the decades.
That goes as far as the interior of the academy offices - minus carpets, which are not practical in humid southern China.
"It's very important that an Ajax player - and an R&F player - has a certain attitude," said Engelkes, who previously coached Ajax women's team.
"They must be creative. We want to think very attacking, attractive (soccer), taking initiative, but also be dominant in the game they play."
It's a bold blueprint in a country that has never produced a world-class player and does not share the deep-rooted Dutch soccer culture.
Kids are put through their paces at the school, which is co-run by Dutch giant Ajax. JOHANNES EISELE/AFP
Challenges
Engelkes said one particular challenge is that Chinese kids - due partly to a rote-learning education system - are used to being told what to do.
"They don't think for themselves ... but if you are in the game, you need to make your own decisions," he said.
The ultimate goal is to produce players for Guangzhou R&F's first team and the Chinese national squad, while also training Chinese coaches to carry on the project after the Dutch leave.
So what does Ajax get out of this?
It receives an annual fee and when the multimillion-euro agreement was announced, Edwin van der Sar, the former Netherlands and Manchester United goalkeeper who is now a senior Ajax official, spoke about growing the Dutch club's brand in Asia.
But he and Engelkes stress that coaching is the prime motivation.
"You have to extend and share your knowledge, and maybe (in return) that will bring us other things," said Engelkes.
For example, Ajax will be in prime position to snare any particularly talented local players or coaches.
So will a Chinese Cruyff, Bergkamp or Kluivert roll off the production line one day?
"Why not? It's a big country so there must be talent here," said Engelkes.
「你讓格拉斯哥進球了，你在想什麼?」投影播放著視頻，一群初露頭角的中國足球運動員盯著大屏幕，他們的後背挺直，手臂整齊地交叉在課桌上。
這是中超廣州富力足球俱樂部下屬足球學院每天的足球英語課程。
在這些11歲的男孩中，可能有人能成為中國的約翰·克魯伊夫。
這聽起來可能不太可能，但荷蘭巨人阿賈克斯已經和富力聯手，發誓要共同建立中國最好的足球學院。
廣州富力甚至不是自己所在城市最著名的足球俱樂部——七屆中超聯賽冠軍廣州恆大才是。
但是在前南斯拉夫傳奇的組織核心德拉甘·斯託伊科維奇的帶領下，他們想要踢出「中國最美的足球」。
雖然房地產開發商富力集團有財力投巨資，但他們希望把重點放在年輕人身上，這符合中國政府的政策。
阿賈克斯以培養了克魯伊夫、範巴斯滕、博格坎普、克魯伊維特等很多傳奇球星而聞名於世。
回到基本
「這是我們與富力合作五年的長期承諾，但也許我們還需要幾年的時間，因為我們必須從基礎開始，」富力足球學院的技術總監Ed Engelkes說。
「如果基礎都沒打好，你就必須從頭再來。」
廣州富力和阿賈克斯是去年11月份宣布合作的，但Engelkes和其他三位來自荷蘭俱樂部的教練仍在做基礎性的工作。
該學院位於梅州，距廣州400公裡(250英裡)，這個城市以培養出多名國腳而出名。
該學院大約有330名年齡在8歲到17歲之間的男孩，他們住在這裡，接受訓練，上課。
優秀的學生能獲得獎學金免費入學，而一些則需要繳費。
許多人是本地人，但那些來自更遠地方的人可能一年只見一次或兩次父母。
「這需要很大的決心和承諾」54歲的總監Engelkes說，年輕的球員們在學院的球場上一展身手。
語言課程
訓練是嚴肅的，訓練的過程會被錄像記錄下來，以供後期仔細觀察。
一位教練偶爾會在10歲孩子之間的比賽中叫停，讓他們用英語講解，然後翻譯成英語。
Engelkes承認，耐心是必要的，尤其是因為語言差異。
中午太陽火辣辣的——即使是在秋天，天氣也非常炎熱——男孩們成群結隊地走進屋裡，衝了個澡，去上足球英語課。
富力足球學院說他們是中國唯一擁有這類課程的俱樂部，儘管目前這些訓練有素的孩子們能理解多少視頻中的內容還是一個疑問。
在享用了一頓由海鮮、米飯、沙拉和水果組成的健康午餐後，學員們回到宿舍小睡一會兒。
他們只有在星期六才允許使用手機。
Sam是一名11歲的前鋒，來自中國西部偏遠的新疆地區。
他最喜歡的球員是尤文圖斯前鋒克裡斯蒂亞諾·羅納爾多。
「他很擅長控球和進球，」Sam說。
其他歐洲俱樂部也在中國建立類似的合作關係，或在中國成立足球學校，不過很少有俱樂部能與阿賈克斯在青少年培養方面的聲譽匹敵。
Engelkes希望在梅州搭建跟阿賈克斯總部一樣的，幾十年來一直非常成功的架構。
這些甚至細化到學院辦公室的內部改造——去除地毯，在中國南方潮溼的地區，地毯是不實用的。
「一個阿賈克斯球員和一個富力球員——有一定的態度是非常重要的，」Engelkes說。
他們必須有創造力。我們想要踢有攻擊性，有吸引力(的足球)，主動，要在比賽中佔主導地位。
在一個從未培養出世界級球員的國家裡，這是一個大膽的藍圖。
自己做決策
Engelkes說，一個特別的挑戰是，中國的孩子——大部分都處在死記硬背的教育系統——習慣於被告知該做什麼。
「他們不擅於自己做決策……」
但如果你在比賽中，你需要自己做決策。
我們的終極目標是為廣州富力的一隊和中國國家隊培養球員，同時也是在培養能夠接班的中方教練團隊。
阿賈克斯能從中得到什麼？
他們每年都會收到一筆費用，當這個價值數百萬歐元的合作官宣時，荷蘭前國家隊門將、現阿賈克斯CEO範德薩(Edwin van der Sar)也談到了俱樂部在亞洲的品牌發展問題。
但是Engelkes強調足球才是最主要的動力。
Engelkes說:「你必須擴散和分享你的知識，也許(作為回報)這會給我們帶來其他的東西。」
例如，阿賈克斯對特別有天賦的中國球員或教練有優先籤約的權利。
所以中國的克魯伊夫、博格坎普或克魯伊維特有朝一日也會從這條生產線上走出來？
「為什麼不呢? 這是一個大國，所以這裡一定有足球天才。」Engelkes說。
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