Tan Jingfeng, director of Inner Mongolia Sports Bureau, and a manager from the Italian Napoli Football Club hold talks in Hohhot on May 16. [Photo/nmgsports.gov.cn]

Tan Jingfeng, director of the Inner Mongolia Sports Bureau, met with a manager of the Italian Napoli Football Club in Hohhot on May 16 in hopes of reaching cooperation in soccer sector.

Tan pointed out the achievements the region has reached in professional sports leagues, training teenagers and field construction since being elected as a national pilot area for soccer.

Tan gave three collaborative suggestions during the meeting—to send teenagers to Italy to experience local soccer culture and training, to invite coaches from the Napoli Football Club to Inner Mongolia to teach and to promote regional soccer associations to learn from the management systems of Italy to push forward development of the sports industry.

The Napoli manager shared the club’s long history and training systems for youth and professional players. The club hopes to utilize its experience to assist Inner Mongolia to cultivate more talented youth and reinforce the influence of professional leagues.

Societa Sportiva Calcio Napoli, commonly referred to as Napoli, is a professional Italian football club based in Naples, Campania. Formed in 1926, the club plays in Serie A, the top tier of Italian football. The club has won Serie A twice, the Coppa Italia five times, the Supercoppa Italiana twice and the 1988-89 UEFA Cup.

The Napoli manager inspects a kindergarten specializing in soccer training. [Photo/nmgsports.gov.cn]

Officers from a local soccer school present a jersey to the Napoli manager. [Photo/nmgsports.gov.cn]