Inter Milan Academy launched in Jiangsu

Nanjing, June 2: Italian football powerhouse Inter Milan launched the Inter Academy Jiangsu here on Saturday, a project that involves all 13 cities in the southeast Chinese province.

Established by Chinese retail giant Suning Group, which owns most of the shares in the Italian club, the Jiangsu academy trains young players and coaches and introduces Inter youth training system and coach resources to China, reports Xinhua news agency.

The Jiangsu academy is planning to build elite youth teams in the 13 cities, with Nanjing, Wuxi, Yangzhou, Suzhou and Xuzhou to be the first beneficiaries.

Inter Milan vice president and Argentine football legend Javier Zanetti said that the launch of the Inter Academy Jiangsu is another step forward in the Inter-Suning partnership.

"The mutually beneficial sharing of expertise and experience between our two organisations is further strengthened today with the arrival of Inter technical coordinators, who will remain on site permanently to help local coaches and make contribution to the growth of football in China," said Zanetti.

"There is huge passion for football in China and it's growing all the time. Everyone here at Inter is proud to be part of that growth, we hope to contribute by adopting the same professional approach Inter Academy has shown around the world," he added.

The Jiangsu academy is the fifth Inter institution in China. The sixth one will be launched in the northeast Chinese city of Shenyang on Sunday.