Chinese boys set to follow in Messi's footsteps

Students have attended the first ever FC Barcelona football training camps at the Mission Hills Haikou resort. [Photo/provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

More than 1,000 students have attended the first ever FC Barcelona football training camps at the Mission Hills Haikou resort in China since last year. During this time, three local children have been singled out recently, by the world’s most famous football club, for more training at its headquarters in Spain.

"The three Chinese boys –10-year-old Li Shibo, and eight-year-olds Lang Dacheng and Zhan Zhijie, all from Haikou, provincial capital of Hainan province – will attend the same youth academy at the Camp Nou Stadium in the Spanish capital, which has produced superstars including Lionel Messi, Andres Iniesta and Xavi," Pau Lopez Mesquida, a former FC Barcelona youth player who has moved to Haikou to oversee the project, said.

FC Barcelona has sent 10 of its coaches to host a series of football training camps at the FCB Escola Soccer School and in local schools on the tropical Chinese island of Hainan. The four-time Champions League winners announced a partnership with the Mission Hills Group in February, which has the club managing and operating a soccer school outside of Barcelona for the first time in its 118-year history.

"These were our first training camps since opening our FCB Escola at Mission Hills Haikou and we were overwhelmed by the response," Mesquida said.

"There was a huge amount of talent on show but all the coaches were particularly impressed by Lang, Li and Zhan, so we want to take them under our wing and invite them to the Nou Camp for more training."

"I am so excited to be going to Spain for the first time to train with FC Barcelona," 8-year-old Lang said.

"Attending the classes was an amazing experience as we got to work with the Barca coaches, wear the Barca football kit and learn skills we have never been taught at school before.

"We also learned about the Barca values of tolerance, respect, unity and friendship."

The Hainan FCB Escola is located at the Football Training Base at the Mission Hills resort in Haikou. Also appointed by the China Football Association as its southern China training headquarters, the training base will span 345,000 square meters when fully complete next year, featuring 20 football pitches and other state-of-the-art academy facilities.