Bedrock of China’s Youth Football Development: A Case Study on the Transformative Development of “Starry Sky” Training Camps

To explore the practical process and operational mechanisms of the transformation of youth football training camps from popularization platforms to regional youth training hubs, this study selects three national campus youth football training camps “Starry Sky” situated in Chengyang District (Qingdao), Jinpu New District (Dalian), and Yanbian Chaoxianzu Autonomous Prefecture as research cases. Employing case study method and based on validated archival materials, semi-structured interviews and policy documents, this study conducts an analysis along the logic thread of driving motives, evolutionary process and practical outcomes. From the theoretical perspective of interfacial boundary organizations, it further elucidates the dual-interface transformation mechanism of training camps. It is found that “Starry Sky” training camps function as a bridge between campus football popularization systems and elite competitive talent cultivation system. In practical operation, the camps are plagued by constraints including inadequate professional coaching competency, insufficient substantive operational capacity of camp institutions, and inefficient resource integration. The three cases develop differentiated transformation pathways through three respective breakthroughs of coaching team upgrading, camp quality improvement, and in-depth sports-education integration. Mechanistic analysis reveals that the transformation of training camps follows a progressive paradigm of “boundary spanning-boundary linkage-boundary consolidation”. Through the embedding of professional expertise, the restructuring of organizational procedures, and the coupling of institutions with values, the camps advance the progressive alignment of the popularization-to-elite training interface and the sport-education integration interface. It is concluded that “Starry Sky” training camps serve as the primary transitional link for China’s youth football training to advance from extensive popularization to systematic improvement. In promoting camp construction, local authorities should implement categorized policies in accordance with local governance foundations, resource endowments, and development stages.