MADRID, Aug. 21 (Xinhua) -- The Evergrande Cup Championship officially kicked off its opening games at the headquarters of the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) on the outskirts on Madrid on Tuesday.
The opening matches began after a brief ceremony which was attended by Chinese Ambassador to Spain, Lyu Fan and Jose Luis Rubiales, the RFEF President.
The competition, which is considered one of the most important competitions at junior level to be played in Spain, has been organized by the Chinese club, along with the Real Madrid Foundation and the RFEF.
16 teams, such as Guangzhou Evergrande, Atletico Madrid Valencia, Sevilla, Getafe, Oporto, Benfica, Inter Milan, Lyon, Hoffenheim, Shakhtar Donetsk and Schalke 04 will see their under-15 and under-16 teams compete in a total of 40 matches and each side playing a minimum of five games.
The competitions are divided into a group stage with the top-teams then competing in a knock-out format with the finals played on September 2nd.
Evergrande run a football academy in Madrid where 75 students are currently training to become professional footballers using Spanish training methods and technology, meanwhile the club and Real Madrid have created the biggest football academy in China with 3,000 students and 45 football pitches. Enditem
