The European Youth Development Model for Elite Football Players and Suggestions for China

Through the case studies of five FIFA World Cup winners(England, Germany, France, Spain, Italy), this paper presents a systematic analysis of the features in professional football talent development and football academies in major European football nations, and investigates the ways and criteria(somatotype, physical fitness, techniques and tactics, football intelligence) for identifying potential high performers, with an overview of the latest trends in talent identification in Europe. This paper also examines the development trajectories of elite football players in Europe and the characteristics of youth players in terms of their techniques and skills, tactics, and physical conditioning. At the same time, this paper puts forward some suggestions to improve the cultivation of football reserve talents in China as follows: 1) establishing professional training centers or academies as talent pools;2) working out distinct Chinese styles of technical and tactical skills, while training qualified top-level coaches; 3) perfecting talent identification criteria in workable details; 4) executing in-depth studies on the development rules of football for an effective training of young Chinese football players.