Inter Milan launches academy program in Beijing

BEIJING -- The Serie A giant Inter Milan launched its academy program in Beijing on Saturday and the club's vice president, Javier Zanetti, showed up in the ceremony.

Inter Academy will cooperate with Yihai Group to set up the club's third academy in China which involved around 30 schools and 5,000 children over the course of a year. The former two have already been running in Shanghai and Nanjing.

Inter's former captain, the club's vice president Zanetti also showed up in the ceremony. He said this academy will help the children in Beijing realise their football dream.

"This program will bring in the top-level coaching methods used in the F.C. Internazionale youth academy. The club will send academy coaches to Beijing and they will be in charge of the training of the youth players," the Nerazzurri legend said.

To help improve the Chinese coaches' level, over 20 Chinese youth coaches will be sent to Italy to accept professional training, according to the agreement.