Autumn always starts from September and it was a fine day. The moment a whistle was heard, two football teams from Peking University and China University of Mining and Technology respectively started a football match on the football pitch in China University of Mining and Technology, Beijing. Applause, yells and cheers resounded through the stand, making footballers and audience more excited. It is a picture of Industrial Bank Chinese Youth International Football Championships Campus Qualification 2016 with IB as the exclusive title sponsor. Similar qualifications were under way in some provinces and cities, for instance, Beijing, Jiangsu, Hubei, Sichuan and Shaanxi.
“Football Dream” belongs to “Chinese Dream” and Chinese people are looking forward to that Chinese football can “rush out of Asia and march to the world”. The future of Chinese football lies in popularity and development of youth football. Some national policies including Overall Plan for Reform and Development of Chinese Football were promulgated, laying a foundation for the development of youth football and invigorating youth football in an unprecedented way. Against this backdrop, Industrial Bank Chinese Youth International Football Championships Campus Qualification 2016, the first youth football event totally connected with other parts of the world, was born at the right moment. At present, national qualifications are under way.
Footballers in this event are divided into two groups including “group of 12 years old” and “group of 19 years old”. Qualification for “group of 19 years old” kicked off on September 10, attracting more than 270 university football teams from Peking University, Tsinghua University, Wuhan University, Nanjing University, Sichuan University, Xi'an Jiaotong University and other prestigious universities in five major competition areas including Beijing, Jiangsu, Hubei, Sichuan and Shaanxi. Top four will be ultimately selected through nearly 300 games; qualification for “group of 12 years old” will start in Beijing in early October and outstanding campus football teams from 32 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions in China will compete for top two. Winners in two qualifications will participate in the International Final in Beijing in late October and compete with eight outstanding youth football teams and club echelon teams for the crown.
As the exclusive title sponsor of this public welfare event and its only partner in financial industry from 2016 to 2020, IB provides comprehensive and differentiated financial services and value-added services for the involved parties while funding this event. For example, the bank relies on its branches all over the country to cooperate with the promotion of youth football and conveys the cultural essence of football to the youth; puts in place “campus finance and by dint of “Vigor Life” credit card, online integrated wealth management platform “Money Manager”, mobile payment product “Apple Pay” and “Cloud Quick Pass” designed for sports enthusiasts, meets the consumption demand of campus groups, and provides high-quality and differentiated financial services for fashionable youth that long for a healthy and vigorous life.
It is said that working with football is IB’s another move to march toward “great health and general sports” field, deepen image of retail brand and expand retail clients after IB aligned itself with International Marathons in Shanghai, Taiyuan, Chengdu and Fuzhou, as well as seven eminent national sports brands including Anta, XTEP and 361°. So far the number of IB’s retail clients has exceeded 35 million.