Int’l youth football tournament opens in Lijiang

The Belt and Road Lijiang Youth Football Invitational Tournament 2024 kicked off in northwest Yunnan’s Lijiang city on October 22.

Opening of the Lijiang Youth Football Invitational Tournament 2024

With the theme of “tianyu liufang”, a Naxi phrase meaning “Go for some reading”, the week-long event encourages the international youth to strike a balance between sports and books.

The tournament invited in five football teams from Cambodia, Thailand and Nepal, as well as 11 Chinese provincial teams from Liaoning, Guangdong, Shaanxi, Yunnan and others.

 

Opening of the Lijiang Youth Football Invitational Tournament 2024

International footballers sing and play balls at the opening.  

By hosting the football tournament, Lijiang hopes to invite in more learning tourists, increase cultural exchanges with south-southeast Asian countries, and thus contribute to the Belt and Road Initiative, said Lijiang deputy mayor Wei Niya at the opening.

Supervised by Yunnan Provincial Sports Bureau’s Foreign Exchange Service Center and Yunnan Provincial Football Association, the event is hosted by Lijiang Education and Sports Bureau for more people-to-people exchanges and international friendship.

 

A Naxi ethnic dance is staged at the opening.

A football game goes on during the Lijiang tournament 2024. 

Source: Lijiang Media Center; Trans-editing by Wang Shixue