Zhidan: Integrating Sports and Education through the Red Spirit

Reported by Wang Wei Nestled among the rugged ravines and ridges of the Loess Plateau in northern Shaanxi lies a red city etched with profound revolutionary history: Zhidan County, Yan'an City, Shaanxi Province. On August 11, the 2026 third edition of the Centennial Schools Football Elite Exchange Tournament's primary school group will be held in Zhidan.

Zhidan County is the land where Liu Zhidan fought valiantly and the revolutionary red capital where the Party Central Committee settled in northern Shaanxi to orchestrate the revolution. More than half a century ago, a spark of football ignited by Beijing educated youth took root in this fertile red soil and grew strong. Today, Zhidan deeply integrates the great red spirit with youth football culture, forging a distinctive county development path of "red soul forging, sports education, integration of sports and education, and all-round development." Countless young football dreams of northern Shaanxi boys set sail on this red land, and the "Red Capital Youth Football City" has become a shining city brand for Shaanxi and even the whole country.

The land protected by the blood of martyrs carries the red core of defying hardship, tenacious struggle, united progress, and never giving up — which aligns perfectly with the competitive spirit advocated by football, laying a spiritual foundation for the growth of football in Zhidan today.

▲ Zhang Xiaojian

If the red spirit is the spiritual core of Zhidan football's development, the Beijing educated youth who arrived in Zhidan in the late 1960s were the true sowers of the sport. Back then, the northern Shaanxi region was relatively backward, and children in the ravines had never seen football. It was not until a group of idealistic Beijing educated youth came to settle in Zhidan, chasing a black-and-white ball on the riverbank open spaces in their spare time, that local children's curiosity was sparked.

Among them, Zhang Xiaojian, who came to Zhidan from Beijing in 1969 at the age of 20, was a key figure. He stayed for nearly a decade, and in 1972 took the lead to form Zhidan's first ever youth football team, serving as its coach. After the educated youth returned to the cities, football remained in Zhidan. Zhang Xiaojian's apprentice, Yang Zaimin, took over the baton, establishing the Shizhen Primary School Girls' Football Team in 1981, and dedicated over 20 years to coaching girls' football, ensuring the football flame continued to burn.

On August 1 this year, the 2026 Shaanxi Provincial Youth Campus Football League High School Group Finals grandly opened at the newly completed Zhidan County Football Youth Training Center.

In the eyes of Ding Changbao, director of the Zhidan County Football Development Center and chairman of the Football Association, there are several key milestones in Zhidan football development: In 2003, the Zhidan County Football Association was officially established, ushering in a new stage. In 2007, Zhidan fully launched campus football popularization. In 2010, it was awarded the first national youth campus football pilot county. In 2011, it pioneered early childhood football education. These pioneering moves secured Zhidan football an important position in county-level football development nationwide. On March 29, 2014, President Xi Jinping warmly received the Zhidan youth football team during their overseas training in Germany, bringing heartfelt encouragement to the red capital and marking a turning point for Zhidan football's leapfrog development. To commemorate this care, Zhidan designated March 29 each year as "Zhidan Football Day" and has held four consecutive Football Hall of Fame ceremonies to honor generations of football cultivators, turning the red directive into sustained motivation for forging ahead.

▲ Photo of the Zhidan County youth football team on their trip to Germany

With over half a century of passing the torch, today Zhidan is the only county-level administrative region in China to simultaneously undertake the dual tasks of "Western region sports-education integration youth football training system pilot" and "National youth football talent cultivation reform pilot." Zhidan grasps the red spirit core, integrating the Long March spirit and Liu Zhidan's tenacious character into the entire process of football education, building a complete development closed loop of "popularization foundation, teacher strength, facility support, competition training, academic pathway, and open empowerment," where red heritage and green vitality deeply blend.

Ding Changbao said that Zhidan County has always adhered to the concept of "football starts with children," promoting full coverage of campus football. Currently, all 25 primary and secondary schools in the county are included in the campus football layout, 24 schools have been awarded national football characteristic schools, 3 kindergartens have been awarded national football characteristic kindergartens, 84 school teams compete year-round in county leagues and cups, and over 6,000 young people regularly participate in systematic training, with the county's overall youth football popularization rate reaching 30%. To strengthen the mass football foundation, the local government has held the "Red Star Cup" mass football brand event for 18 consecutive years, regularly building amateur matchmaking platforms, bringing football out of schools and into thousands of households.

Breaking through the bottleneck of football specialty students' academic advancement is the most shining innovation of Zhidan's sports-education integration. Zhidan County actively liaised with the Shaanxi Provincial Education Department to open up "3+3" and "3+4" vocational education articulation channels, improving the vertical promotion chain of football specialty students from primary to secondary school within the county. Longgang Experimental Middle School and Bao'an Middle School, two high-quality county middle schools, have specially opened football specialty classes, selecting talents across the county; Yan'an Zhidan Football Sports School recruits football prospects from across Shaanxi Province; Zhidan County Longgang Senior High School selects elite players within Yan'an, building dual channels of sports single recruitment and college high-level sports team admission.

Special Feature: In the "Football Utopia" of a Northern Shaanxi County, Lives Changed by Football

So far, over 80 football specialty students from the county have successfully entered prestigious domestic and foreign universities such as Fudan University, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Beijing Sport University, Jilin University, and Hoseo University in South Korea, achieving the educational goal of "strengthening the body, inspiring wisdom, and realizing talent through football."

In terms of coaching team building, Zhidan County has assembled an international-level coaching lineup, hiring football legend Lee Jang-soo as honorary principal of Zhidan Football Sports School, introducing Korean AFC A-level coach Heo Hwa-mao as youth training director and Lee Jong-woon as head coach, and former national team player Wang Tao, national A-level coach Wang Zhenjie, and more than ten other domestic senior coaches who have been coaching for years. After systematic training, the county now has 48 D-level and above certified football coaches and 32 national level two football referees, ensuring scientific and efficient training through a professional, tiered coaching team.

Currently, Zhidan County has invested a total of 114 million yuan to build 37 standardized football fields. The Zhidan County Football Youth Training Center, with a total investment of 140 million yuan, was completed and put into use in mid-July this year. Ding Changbao, director of the Zhidan County Football Development Center and chairman of the Football Association, said: "Our development of youth football is not just about cultivating competitive talent; it is about using football as a tool to help develop the county's national fitness program."

▲ Ding Changbao

Relying on its excellent facilities and competition hosting capabilities, Zhidan has hosted more than 20 national, provincial, and municipal football events, formed 10 youth elite teams across all age groups from U8 to U17, and achieved remarkable competitive results: the team won the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Revolutionary Old Area Youth Football League six consecutive times; at the 17th Shaanxi Provincial Games, they won the women's football A group gold medal, filling Yan'an's 70-year gold medal gap in provincial games; the U12 girls' team won the Shaanxi regional championship of the China Youth Football League; the U13 boys' team traveled to St. Petersburg, Russia, to compete in the 26th International Children's Mini-Football Championship, winning the world title with eight straight victories.

Since the start of this year, the Zhidan Youth Training Center has successively hosted major events. In July, the Commemorative 90th Anniversary of the Long March Victory Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Youth Football Invitational Tournament concluded successfully, with young players from three regions along the Long March route gathering in the red capital, competing on the pitch and passing on the Long March spirit.

Hu Bolin, a member of the Zhidan representative team, said: "I love football because it teaches me unity and persistence. In every run and tackle, I forge my will; fighting alongside teammates brings friendship and growth. The sense of achievement after every goal is why I truly love football. I hope more peers will fall in love with football and sports." In August, the 2026 Shaanxi Provincial Youth Campus Football League High School Group Finals were held in Zhidan, with 20 top high school teams from across the province competing fiercely, comprehensively testing Zhidan's event hosting capabilities and youth training achievements.

▲ Commemorative 90th Anniversary of the Long March Victory Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Youth Football Invitational Tournament

In recent years, Zhidan County has adhered to an open-door policy for football development, establishing long-term strategic cooperation with universities and professional institutions such as Shaanxi Normal University, Xi'an Physical Education University, Dalian Football Association, and Shandong Luneng Football Club. Meanwhile, it has actively participated in more than ten international football exchange activities, including the China-Korea "Pomegranate Flower Cup" and the 10th "Peace Cup" in Italy, hosted the Italian U16 women's team for friendly matches, and this August selected eight young players to travel to Kenya for China-Africa youth football cultural exchange.

At the same time, Zhidan County delves into its red football cultural core, producing more than ten themed film and television works such as "Xintianyou on the Toes" and "The Ball Chaser," and creating original football songs like "Zhidan," promoting the deep integration of red culture tourism, sports industry, and literary and artistic creation. With solid development achievements, Zhidan has been awarded multiple national honors such as "National Excellent Campus Football Pilot County," "National County Football Typical," and "Starlight Training Camp," shining the dual brand of red capital and youth football city across northern Shaanxi.

Today, the red gene has long been integrated into the blood of Zhidan football. The revolutionary spirit of tenacious struggle, unity, and overcoming difficulties has become the spiritual core of Zhidan's youth.

Going forward, Zhidan County will continue to improve the four-tier talent cultivation model of "early childhood启蒙—primary school popularization—junior high improvement—senior high elite," and optimize the "three chiefs" (county chief, bureau chief, school principal) workday promotion mechanism. It will fully leverage the hardware advantages of the newly completed Zhidan County Football Youth Training Center to host provincial, national, and even international youth football events, and continue to hold mass events such as the "Red Star Cup," the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia border region joint invitational, and the Centennial Schools Cup, allowing Zhidan football to contribute to the development of Shaanxi football and even Chinese football.