GRANADA – A significant bilateral cooperation agreement was signed yesterday by the authorities of the French Federation of University Sports (FFSU) and those of the Chinese University Sports Federation (FUSC), represented respectively by Jean-François Sautereau, President of FFSU and Yang Liguo Secretary General of the FUSC.
Jean François Sautereau (left) with Yang Liguo signing the cooperation contract. (behind) Shen Zhen, Damien Bardot, Claude-Louis Gallien, Vincent Rognon.
This contract is the result of a process that began in Paris in September 2014 with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the FUSC and FFSU for hosting events bringing the two countries closer together. This MOU was signed when the two nations were celebrating the 50th anniversary of their diplomatic relations with Mrs Liu Yandong, Deputy Prime Minister of the People’s Republic of China and Mr. Laurent Fabius, French Minister of Foreign Affairs in attendance.
The contract signed last night was to improve the technical level of Chinese football. 240 Chinese soccer coaches will be trained in French universities during a period of four months, from September to December 2015.
In addition to this training programme, the FUSC will also host in June the 1st edition of the ‘week of university sport China-France’. French men’s and women’s university football teams will be invited to Beijing to participate in “Games of Friendship” as well as many cultural events with Chinese university teams.
FISU President Claude-Louis Gallien (FRA) was also present at the signing. He welcomed the opportunity to take a facilitating role in holding these bilateral negotiations: “This type of agreement is very important in the context of the knowledge transfer between member associations of FISU. It is always instructive to share expertise and promote cultural exchanges. FISU will always support its membership in having these exchanges.”
Text: Yvan Dufour, FISU Editor-in Chief – Photo: Guillaume Mirand, FFSU