Overview of

　　CHINA NATIONAL FOOTBALL ACADEMY & CHINA NATIONALBASKETBALLACADEMY

　　(October2024)

　　The National Football Academy and National Basketball Academy were approved in 2012 and officially inaugurated and commenced operation in 2017. Co-sponsored by the General Administration of Sport of China and the People's Government of Shandong Province, and jointly organized by the Chinese Football Association, Chinese Basketball Association, Shandong Provincial Sports Bureau and Shandong Sport University, the academies are established as secondary schools of Shandong Sport University. They are the only national specialized applied sports colleges jointly built by the central ministry and provincial government, featuring football and basketball as coredisciplines.

　　Rooted in Shandong, serving the whole country and embracing a global vision, the academies align with the national strategy of building a leading sports power and revitalizing the Three Big Ball Games (football, basketball and volleyball). They deliver academic education, professional training, scientific research, and cultural inheritance and promotion, striving to build high-level talent cultivation bases and youth reserve training bases for football andbasketball.

　　Adhering to a professional and international orientation, the academies focus on cultivating full-chain applied professionals with strong expertise and outstanding practical innovation capabilities, mainly including coaches, referees, administrators and educators for football and basketball. Currently, there are over 1,500 undergraduate students and around 90 postgraduate students on campus. The academies offer the Sports Training program (with football and basketball concentrations) and the Football Studies program. The Sports Training program is designated as a national first-class undergraduate program. The Football Studies program was officially approved in January 2024 and launched its first enrollment in September 2024, making the academies one of the first institutions in China to offer this program. In partnership with the Affiliated High School of Shandong Sport University, the academies pioneered the 3+4 integrated training model for football talentsnationwide.

　　Following a talent-driven development approach, the academies recruit external talents and nurture internal staff, building a high-quality professional dual-qualified faculty team that excels in education, teaching, research, and the integration of professional practice and teaching. Chi Jian, former President of Beijing Sport University, serves as the Executive Dean of the two national academies; Gong Xiaobin serves as Vice Dean of the National Basketball Academy. More than ten renowned industry experts, including Jiang Zhixue, Xin Lancheng, Bora Milutinović and Gong Luming, are specially appointed as advisors to deliver lectures tostudents.

　　Currently, the academies have 50 full-time faculty and staff, consisting of 7 professors, 18 associate professors, 13 PhD holders and 6 doctoral candidates. Personnel with senior professional titles or above account for 50% of the total, while PhD holders and doctoral candidates make up 38%. In the past five years, faculty members have led and participated in over 20 research projects, 13 of which are at or above the provincial and ministerial level, including 1 general project of the National Social Science Fund and 2 humanities and social science projects of the Ministry of Education. They have established 5 research teams, published over 40 papers in Chinese core journals, SCI/SSCI journals and other publications, and released more than 20 academicmonographs.

　　At present, the academies are home to 1 FIFA international football referee (also a FIFA referee fitness instructor), 1 FIBA international basketball referee, 1 AFC/CFA professional coach, 1 AFC/CFA A-level coach, 2 UEFA B-level coaches, 2 AFC B-level coaches, 1 CFA C-level coaching instructor, 2 CFA D-level coaching instructors, 2 national football referees, 1 national basketball referee, and 1 honorary referee certified by the Chinese Basketball Association. Over 300 person-times have served as referees in major domestic and international events including the Olympic Games, FIFA World Cup, AFC Asian Cup and National Games. 10 person-times have held coaching positions in high-level teams such as the Chinese National Women's Youth Football Team and provincial men's and women's basketballteams.

　　Committed to open education, the academies have forged long-term partnerships with local authorities, industrial associations and leading enterprises, such as Shandong Football Management Center, Luneng Taishan Football School, Jinan Ball Sports Center and Yucheng Vocational Education Center, to explore joint talent cultivation models. They conduct high-quality international exchanges and cooperation: an overseas internship and training base has been set up at the University of Murcia in Spain; overseas university courses are introduced; Bora Milutinović's team and foreign coaches from Slovenia, Serbia and other countries are invited to deliver teaching and training sessions. The China-Croatia Football Academy is alsounderpreparation.