Interview: Ajax willing to play active role in China's football reform, says van der Sar

Ajax is willing to play an active role in China's football reform and is engaging in encouraging talks with potential partners on how to share Ajax's knowledge and quality, especially in youth training, the Dutch club's ex-goalkeeper and chief marketing officer Edwin van der Sar told Xinhua.

"Ajax is willing to be active in China's football reform. But China is a big country, where do you start? The main thing is, when there is enough attention from the Chinese side, we are able to participate in certain areas and to help develop a healthy restructure of the football world in China", said Van der Sar in a recent interview with Xinhua.

China's central reform group, captained by President Xi Jinping, kicked off a plan to revive football in mid-March. It involves almost every aspect of the sport, including professional clubs, professional leagues, national teams and grassroots football.

The plan calls on local governments in China to promote the popularization of campus football, and proposes earlier identification of talent, along with the integration of professional clubs, school teams and amateurs.

AFC Ajax is one of the leading clubs in the Dutch Eredivisie and also one of the largest and most legendary clubs in European football. Its football knowledge, on youth training in particular, might contribute to the Chinese plan to revamp their national sport, according to Van der Sar.

"The Dutch Eredivisie is well known for identifying and training talents. At Ajax, young talents get the chance in our first team, and we play European football every year, which makes it even more interesting to play here", said Van der Sar.

For him, the whole philosophy of Ajax is producing young, talented players and developing them into first-team players.

"An example of this is Daley Blind, who just went to Manchester United. He has been here from when he was 8 years old all the way to 24, so he really spent 16 years on our academy. Over the last 40 to 50 years we have had a lot of success with this kind of players, like Wesley Sneijder, Marco van Basten, Clarence Seedorf, etc.," explained Van der Sar.

With the change in the commercial side of football nowadays, as players are able to get higher wages and bigger transfer fees in other countries, Ajax has invested more and more in the development of its own players by bringing them into the system from a young age, with dedicated coaches, he added.

"Four years ago, we developed our academy program. We put much more emphasize on strength, power and running abilities. We try to be smarter and cleverer than other clubs in developing players," he said.

Last year, Ajax launched a new school program, Ajax college. "Because not everybody can make it into a professional football player, you also have to look at what happens if you don't make it. That's why we set up a whole new school program, for players of 16 years and older, who can participate and get a diploma for the academic performances at school at the age of 18," explained Van der Sar.

"Everybody knows what Ajax is about: the academy, the transition of players. We got a lot of requests from clubs, from other countries. We are looking at how can we use this knowledge to help a country, a region or a company that wants to develop football. We're also talking in China with some parties and that's encouraging," he said, adding that he had been to China five times in the past 18 months.

After visits to some schools in China, Van der Sar noted that it is important for China to provide better coaches for better players and to make sure that talented players get the right motivation and attention to develop into good players.

The base is another important factor. "I think that's the idea the Chinese government and the president have. The development needs to happen when the kids are 7 or 8, when they start playing different sports and mainly football," he said.

"Then hopefully in 8 or 10 years, the amount of players whom you could choose from for the national team will be improved vastly, you will have a bigger chance of qualifying for a World Cup or winning the Asia Cup," he said.

In fact, the former goalkeeper, known among his Chinese fans as "Lao Fan" ("Old Van", because of his 21 years long legendary career), talked with the Chinese president during the latter's state visit to the Netherlands in March 2014.

During that meeting, "we had a nice conversation about sports, and about football in particular. The president said that he was a great football admirer and that he knows I played for a couple of big clubs and for the national team of Holland," Van der Sar told Xinhua.

"I think it was reflected in the plans that got announced last month about the development of football in China. I've got another meeting next month with [Chinese] government officials to see how Ajax can be part of that plan," he said.

"But for us, it is not about selling shirts or merchandise. It is about real input and making sure that a new generation of Chinese coaches and trainers will be well educated, abroad hopefully. In that way, Ajax can help develop the football brand in China," he added.

For Van der Sar, a potential partner in China could be a club, a region or a local council. "We have had several meetings and also some other people are actively talking on behalf of us. We would like to find the right partner to set up a nice and good program and not only for 2 years, we are looking for a strong partner willing to do that for China, together with us," he said.

Ajax is also interested in developing commercial partnership with Chinese companies, noted the marketing director.

"I am very proud that we have three partners from China: Huawei, Sengled [smart-lighting company] and CST [tire producer]. The whole Amsterdam Arena now has Wi-Fi access, produced by Huawei, so every home-game our fans can use the internet for free", said Van der Sar. Endit