About our youth teams
We started our Lions football youth academy back in 2012 as we felt there were no playing opportunities for the older aged youth besides their school games in Shanghai.
At first, we organized friendly games for U18 against our veteran team. We also participated in an international tournament organized by the Shanghai Football Association. Then, we start to organize regular training sessions at Century Park. When the SPL U19 11-aside started, we were happy to join. At the end, this model (older youth) proved to be hard to sustain as players in their final exam year will have less free time to play. Additionally, they could only play with us for 1 or 2 years max as most of them will move out of China for further education...
In 2017, the opportunity came to take over the 14-18 year age group from Century Park. We thought that it will be an excellent base to start developing our football youth academy a step further.
Our Youth Teams
Today, we have 2 different categories of age.
- Lions U18: It is composed of boys & girls aged between 15 to 18 years old.
- Lions U15: It is composed of boys & girls aged between 12 to 15 years old.
Youth Management Team
| Job | Age | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
Freek Boelen |
 |
President | info@shanghai-lions.com | 60 |
 |
Nick S. |
 |
Fitness Coach and Sports Therapist | info@shanghai-lions.com | 35 |
 |
Patrick L. |
 |
Coach (Senior Team), Training Head, Coach (Youth Team) | info@shanghai-lions.com | 41 |
Competition
Training
We organize training twice a week on Wednesday and Friday. Usually, the season starts from late August until early June.
- Each Wednesday from 19:00 to 21:00
- Each Friday from 19:30 to 21:00
Overall, our playing location for training & competition is always in Pudong at the Concordia International School in Jinqiao. As Shanghai is a large city, the place where you are living is indeed an important criterion when it comes to deciding what's the best football academy for your kids. For instance, the travel time to the training & games shall be reasonable.
Address: 345 Huangyang Road Pudong, Shanghai China 201206 (EN) / 上海 浦东新区 黄杨路345号 (CN)
How to get there: Subway line 9, exit Lantian road. After that 10 min walk
Enrolment & Registration
Overall, we welcome any boy or girl to enroll in our football youth academy as long as they fit in our age group. Our players are basically coming from all over the world. As china's amateur football is still in its development stage, there is no need for a transfer from the previous football clubs. Then, if you consider joining us, you can come to try out at a training session to have a feel about our coaches & teams.
- From 12 to 15 years old for U15
- From 15 to 18 years old for U18
As for the registration, we'll need some information from you. Then, you can download the form below (click the form), file it, and send it back to info@shanghai-lions.com. Once this is done, we'll get back to you shortly.
Fixtures & Results (Season 2020/2021)
| Wed 07 Jul | 09:30 | N | SPL Youth |  Minhang High School United |
Youth | 4 - 2 | Match Center |
| Tue 06 Jul | 09:30 | N | SPL Youth |  Pudong AKS United |
Youth | 3 - 1 | Match Center |
| Sun 04 Jul | 15:30 | N | SPL Youth |  Juventus Academy Shanghai |
Youth | 3 - 2 | Match Center |
| Sat 03 Jul | 09:30 | N | SPL Youth |  SKS FC |
Youth | 5 - 1 | Match Center |
| Fri 02 Jul | 15:30 | N | SPL Youth |  SIPG U17 |
Youth | 0 - 11 | Match Center |
| Sat 06 Feb | 10:00 | H | SPL Youth |  Japan FC |
Youth (U18) | 4 - 3 | Match Center |
| Sun 24 Jan | 10:00 | H | SPL Youth |  Dulwich Earthquakes |
Youth | 1 - 1 | Match Center |
| Sun 29 Nov | 10:00 | H | SPL Youth | Juventus Academy Shanghai |
Youth | 4 - 5 | Match Center |
| Sat 21 Nov | 10:00 | H | SPL Youth | Japan FC |
Youth | 6 - 2 | Match Center |
| Sat 31 Oct | 10:00 | H | SPL Youth | YKFC |
Youth | 2 - 4 | Match Center |
| Sat 05 Sep | 10:00 | H | SPL Youth | YKFC |
Youth (U18) | 2 - 1 | Match Center |
| Sat 29 Aug | 10:00 | H | SPL Youth | John Doe FC |
Youth | 9 - 0 | Match Center |
Last Results
-
Match Center
Shanghai Lions FC
4 - 2
Minhang High School United
-
Match Center
Pudong AKS United
3 - 1Shanghai Lions FC
-
Match Center
Juventus Academy Shanghai
3 - 2Shanghai Lions FC
-
Match Center
Shanghai Lions FC
5 - 1
SKS FC
-
Match Center
Shanghai Lions FC
0 - 11
SIPG U17
-
Match Center
Shanghai Lions FC
4 - 3
Japan FC
-
Match Center
Shanghai Lions FC
1 - 1
Dulwich Earthquakes
-
Match Center
Shanghai Lions FC
4 - 5Juventus Academy Shanghai
-
Match Center
Shanghai Lions FC
6 - 2Japan FC
-
Match Center
Shanghai Lions FC
2 - 4YKFC
-
Match Center
Shanghai Lions FC
2 - 1YKFC
-
Match Center
Shanghai Lions FC
9 - 0John Doe FC
Gallery
ABDULLAHI says:
Bro I’m leaving in shanghai and I would like to join in your academy and i’m 18 years old and I have been practicing since childhood personally and I want to improve my football skills
FL says:
Hi. Can you send us an email at info@shanghai-lions.com? So we can discuss a bit more privately?
Med says:
Hi, I have my youngest which is 14 but I want him to be part of your academy what are the procedure’s to enroll.
FL says:
Hi,
Do you live in Shanghai? Can we exchange by email at info@shanghai-lions.com?
Mark says:
Hi I am asking if there’s opportunity for my child who was born 2002 , who as been training in Africa personal training. He is very good at midfielder , but mostly LW/RW . Would you kindly advice me if it is possible for my son to have a opportunity.
FL says:
Hi Mark. Actually, your son is an adult if he’s born in 2002… Thus, more eligible to our senior team.
We’re an club providing social / amateur playing opportunities for people living in Shanghai… no more, no less.
So if you guys are not living in Shanghai; it’s not going to work.
Jeyong Lee says:
Hi, I am Jeyong! I just wanted to know how much I should pay for the training and playing for the team. Thanks.
Sajjad raza says:
I live in pakistan and I am goalkeeper can I come china for trails in your academy my age is 16
FL says:
Without talking about Covid; do you know you need a visa to get into China? Seriously, we’re an amateur club and if you’re not living here in Shanghai; just forget about it… Sorry.
纳吉 says:
您好，我是阿拉伯人， 我儿子今年 12岁中国小的俱乐部训练几年的，参见了几个省级比赛， 想问一下能不能加入你们学院
FL says:
Do you speak English or only Chinese? If you’re living in Shanghai, we’re always looking for new talent. Feel free to drop us an email for more details at info@shanghai-lions.com
你会说英文还是只会中文？ 如果您住在上海，我们一直在寻找新的人才。 请随时给我们发送电子邮件以获取更多详细信息 info@shanghai-lions.com
Adeniyi timileyin says:
Hi, my name is timileyin adeniyi. I am 15 years old I have trained with my team for 5 years and have participated in youth league.
FL says:
Hi. If you’re not currently living in Shanghai, sorry but nothing we can do for you.
Calum Campbell says:
I hope this finds you well.
My name is Calum Campbell and I am the Director of Research at a production company called HTYT Films, based in London. We recently produced the official documentary movie on the story of the Paralympic Games, called Rising Phoenix, which was shown around the world in 190 countries on Netflix.
I am writing to you about a film we have in development which we would love to discuss with you. The idea behind the film is to create a definitive account of the story of women’s football for a global audience that can also talk to the cultural and societal forces at play in many parts of the world that are helping the growth or hindering the development of the women’s game.
Women’s football made the most progress in the history of the sport at the 2019 Women’s World Cup. The event was the greatest display of passion, tenacity and talent reaching 1.8 billion people worldwide.
We wish to tell the definitive story of women’s football, and we wish to reflect what the sport means to the whole world. History is repeating itself in different ways, and is being played out in different cultures – the one thing that the world is united on, is that girls and women just want to play and they will stop at nothing for equality. We hope our film will inspire the next generation of players to fight for more than that.
Over the course of the next two years, we will select a group of countries, and we will focus on stories about people within those countries that are pushing the sport forward for women. There has never been a more exciting time to watch how women’s football progresses internationally. There is so much adversity to overcome, so much development to be made – each story will inspire another as we weave the present with the past and capture at the same time what will happen in the future, climaxing of course ahead of World Cup 2023, the greatest there ever will be.
In the first instance as part of strengthening our research for the documentary film, we would love to talk to someone from the academy about your junior teams on the girls’ side and the work you are doing to promote girls’ football in China. If you would be up for chatting with us about this, I can happily set up a call in the near future with myself and the director of the series, Olivia Cappuccini. She recently directed the documentary about the Tennis player, Andy Murray.
All the best,
Calum Campbell
Director of Research
HTYT Films
Federico says:
Hi, i’m Federico, i live in Shanghai since 2010 and, next december 4th, i’ll be.15 years old. I’ve always played as goalkeeper and would like to know if is possible join your Academy
FL says:
Hi Federico. Sounds good to us as goalkeepers are always needed 😉
Rishabh Deo says:
Hi I’m Rishabh I’m from Fiji. I’m 15 years old. Is it possible for me to join the Academy because I’m living in Suva,Fiji
FL says:
Hi. No, we only accept people who currently live in Shanghai.
Justine Jankie says:
Good day, do u take international students? My son is 17 and he would like to move to China to train football.
FL says:
Yes, we do have a few international students in our team. After, I’m not sure moving to China just to train football is the right motive. We’re an amateur club… nothing else.
Guy says:
Which youth category do you intend to register for the coming season (2019-2020)?
My son will be U15 this season and we are moving from Belgium to Shanghai in September.
He used to play football in Belgium since he is U5.
FL says:
Hi. Thank you for your interest in Shanghai Lions’ Youth Football Academy. We have seen your email and replied already.
Élodie Quach says:
I live in shanghai, at Qingpu near the french school, and I loved to join this academy to train with you guys and improve my skills.
My name is Elodie Quach, I’m a girl, 16. I started to play soccer at 15, it’s a bit late but I work very hard and later I wanted to become a professional soccer player.
I usually play as a goalkeeper, but I can also play defense, I have speed.
FL says:
Please send an email to info@shanghai-lions.com… It’s easier to exchange this way.
Ivan says:
Hi! My name’s Ivan, I’m from Russia (Volgograd). I’m writing to invite your team 2004 year of birth to take part in the tournament which is dedicated to the Day of Victory over fascism. The tournament will be held in May 2019, a lot of russian and belarusian teams will take part in this event. If you are interested, I will write the detailed information about this tournament and other football events that will be held in Volgograd (Russia).
August says:
Hi,
Is it possible to volunteer as a youth football coach at your academy as a foreigner? If so, I would be more than interested in joining – and maybe also joining a team as a player too! I will send further details about my experience and educations inside football if this turns out to be an opportunity.
Thank you.
FL says:
Hello August. Are you living in Shanghai already? As we’re a pure amateur club, volunteers are always welcome to join us 🙂 To get in touch, you can contact us by email at info@shanghai-lions.com
Fei Xu says:
Hi, do you have soccer training for 7 years old kids? Or any recommendation? Thank you! 🙂
FL says:
Dear Fei Xu. We start our youth academy trainings from 13 or 14 years old. For younger kids, we recommend that you contact Century Park FC at info.centuryparkfc@gmail.com
Nicole says:
Hi, I am writing to ask for a trial for my child Siyi born in 2008, who has been training with JSSL Singapore for more than 3 years. Would you please kindly advise the venue and timing?
Thanks!
FL says:
Hi Nicole. Are you living in Shanghai? Your kid seems a little too young for our academy as our average age group is 14 to 18 yo…