China Overhauls Football Coaching Certification System

The Chinese Football Association (CFA) has launched a sweeping reform to separate coaching examinations from training programs, marking what officials describe as the most significant institutional change in Chinese football since the professional league restructuring. The reform aims to dramatically expand the pool of qualified coaches while eliminating conflicts of interest that have long plagued the certification process.

On July 15, the CFA held a training conference in Guangzhou to summarize pilot programs and announce nationwide implementation of the “separation of examination and training” (考培分离) reform. The conference released the CFA Coaching Examination-Training Separation Capacity Expansion and Quality Improvement Work Plan (2026–2030), attended by over 120 representatives from member associations, co-established football academies, and pilot program units.

A Structural Overhaul

Under the new framework, the CFA will retain direct management authority only for professional-level coaching certifications. Authority over Levels A through D — covering the vast majority of grassroots and youth coaches — will be delegated to member associations and co-established colleges and universities.

The core mechanism splits training and examination into separate entities. Training is opened to diverse social entities including universities, youth training institutions, and professional clubs, while examination remains strictly controlled by member associations and co-established institutions.

As Xinhua News Agency reported, Li Chengpu, the CFA’s Technical Department Director, explained that the plan’s core points are “first, splitting training and examination processes to avoid interference from a single instructor managing the entire process; second, opening up the training side while strictly controlling the examination side.”

Ambitious 2030 Targets

The work plan sets clear numerical goals for the end of the decade: at least 200 C and D level training sites nationwide, at least 40 B level and above training sites, and a doubling of the total number of certified coaches from current levels.

According to the General Administration of Sport of China, the reform addresses “systemic challenges of insufficient coaching team size, suboptimal structure, and low quality” that have constrained Chinese football’s development.

Pilot Program Success

From April to June 2026, the CFA conducted pilot programs in two regional clusters. The northern cluster included the Shaanxi FA, Xi’an FA, and Xi’an Institute of Physical Education, while the southern cluster comprised the Guangdong FA, Shenzhen FA, and Guangzhou Institute of Physical Education.

The pilots successfully established standardized training and examination sites, built comprehensive question banks for D through A level coaching exams, compiled new training textbooks, and developed a digital examination platform featuring facial recognition, AI proctoring, and audio-video evidence recording.

Anti-Corruption and Quality Assurance

A key dimension of the reform is its explicit anti-corruption intent. By severing the direct interest chain between training and examination, the CFA aims to eliminate what officials describe as “micro-corruption” risks in the certification process.

A three-tier supervision system has been established — “CFA — Member Association — Third-Party Organization” — complemented by digital tracking, unified scoring criteria, and standardized hardware across all examination sites.

Zhang Jiasheng, Deputy Director of the General Administration of Sport of China and CFA Party Secretary, described the reform’s significance at the conference: “Implementing the separation of examination and training can clarify the functional boundaries between training and assessment, achieve separation of powers and responsibilities with closed-loop supervision, effectively revitalize industry resources, expand quality training supply, and standardize industry development order.”

Regional Perspectives

Wang Liang, Deputy Secretary-General and Technical Department Director of the Guangdong FA, welcomed the decentralization. “Delegating coaching training authority to local universities, youth training institutions, professional clubs, and other social entities expands coverage from the ‘training’ side,” he said. “On the ‘examination’ side, it strictly standardizes assessment content and procedures, eliminating past industry malpractices such as inconsistent standards.”

Huang Deqi, Director of the Sports Department at Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, noted that coaches now have “significantly expanded freedom of choice — they can independently select examination sites, training periods, and assessment times, further enhancing the fairness and transparency of the entire process.”

Broader Context

The coaching reform is the second major institutional overhaul in Chinese football, following the “separation of management and operation” reform in professional leagues. It places coaching development within China’s broader national strategy to build football talent from the grassroots level upward.

July to December 2026 has been designated as the nationwide promotion phase, with local associations across China expected to establish their own training and examination infrastructure based on the pilot model.

What to Watch

As the reform moves into nationwide implementation, key questions remain: How will the CFA ensure consistent quality across potentially hundreds of new training providers? Can the digital examination platform handle the expected surge in candidates? And will the doubling of certified coaches by 2030 translate into measurable improvements in grassroots football quality?

The answers will determine whether this ambitious institutional reform delivers on its promise to transform Chinese football from the ground up.