BEIJING - FC Internazionale is delighted to announce its participation in Season 2 of Chinese reality series Football Dream, designed to develop young players aged 14-18 and inspire a nation to embrace The Beautiful Game.
The announcement was made on Thursday at a press conference in Beijing which was attended by former Inter player Zé Maria, who will be involved in Football Dream as the talent search sweeps through China over the coming months.
Football Dream reaches an audience of over 1 billion people, utilising the combined power of new media, television and large-scale promotional activities to engage with seasoned football fans and inspire those new to the game. Besides Inter, the other participating team in Football Dream Season 2 is Tottenham Hotspur.
The project was created as a partnership with the Central Government of China. The development of football in China has become a key objective and with the full backing of the General Administration of Sport and the Ministry of Education the project has unprecedented power to create meaningful long-term change.
FC Internazionale academy coaches and former Inter stars will be involved in the project and will lend their depth of football knowledge required to bring the game to a new level in China.
The club will work alongside famous fans of the game from the movie, television and music industries to bring life to the game and to bring football alive for an entirely new audience.
"It is an honour and a privilege to be involved in Football Dream," said Inter managing director Marco Fassone. "At Inter we place huge emphasis on the correct development of young players and being part of Football Dream will give us the chance to pass on our knowledge and expertise to help China achieve its goal of producing first-class players."
Inter has enjoyed a long association with China. It became the first western football club to promote the development of Chinese football back in 1980 when the club replied to an invitation from the National Sports Bureau, sending a delegation of coaches, including club legend Sandro Mazzola, to provide technical support to Su Yongshen's national team.
The club has maintained strong links with China ever since, particularly in recent years with initiatives such as the founding of an Inter Campus in Qingdao, summer friendly matches against China Super League teams and the Chinese Olympics team, the launch of a digital platform in Mandarin Chinese, and, of course, appearances in the Italian Super Cup matches at the National Stadium in Beijing in 2009 and 2011.
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