Chris Buckley, The Next Great Leap Forward: Soccer; China's president aims at World Cup glory. New York Times, Jan 5, 2017.
Quote:
"QINGYUAN, China [广东省清远市清新区龙颈镇军营村军营路] — The 48 soccer fields of the vast Evergrande Football School 恒大足球学校 in south China seem barely enough for its 2,800 students. Against a backdrop of school spires that seem modeled on Hogwarts, the young athletesswarm onto the fields nearly every day, kicking, dribbling and passing in the hope of soccer glory and riches.
"The privately run Evergrande school, the world's biggest soccer boarding school, says its formula of intense training combined with a solid education could show the way for developing young players. * * * Drawn by such hopes, parents pay up to about $8,700 a year to send children here, where 24 Spanish coaches oversee training. Students spend 90 minutes a day on drills and also play on weekends. * * * But the Evergrande approach is too expensive to be widely copied [in China].
I comment:
(a) I would not have paid attention if I did not see the money sign ($8,700) in a photo cation of the New York Times newspaper. I had though the school would be free, paid for by the government.
(b) 学校概况 About School. www.evergrandefs.com/SchoolProfi ... l=SchoolProfile.htm
("恒大足球学校由恒大集团 [based in Guangzhou; real estates] 2012年创办，以 '振兴中国足球，培养足球明星' 为办学目的，迄今投资超20亿元，在校学生已达2800人，被吉尼斯世界纪录评为世界最大足校"/ an aerial view of the school (49 football fields; identical Hogwarts-inspired school buildings)