From leadership research to district action: Involution and governance reform in professional football club–school integration: a case study of S City’s youth training base

AI-assisted editorial implementation guide. Proposed district actions are separate from the original authors’ findings and recommendations. Independent peer review of this guide is not asserted.

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Evidence and transfer

Education-related source: verify which participants, institutions and outcomes were actually studied before district adoption. Source publication type: research-article. License and identity checks do not establish study quality or causality.

Original authors’ abstract, reproduced under the source license:

The integrated development of Chinese professional football clubs and campus football has achieved good development. However, there are still many problems in terms of training methods and depth of integration. In this article, we use the involution theory (a developmental paradox where increased partnership networks fail to improve training outcomes) as an analytical perspective to explain the inner part of the case. We identify an involution dilemma in football club–school integration, characterized by overemphasis on quantitative expansion (increasing partner schools across provinces) and underinvestment in training quality (neglecting youth base development). The findings reveal a systemic “growth without development” pattern, where scaling partnerships fails to enhance talent outputs. The specific causes of the involution dilemma are stated in detail in this manuscript. Based on this, the research proposes specific corrective strategies to solve these issues.

Study methods

In this study, we use in-depth interviews (n = 21) with key stakeholders to explore the integration process, analyzed through qualitative coding methods. The interviewees specifically include the following: one youth training director from the S Club, one youth training coach from the club, two primary school physical education teachers from two primary schools in S city, two primary school principals, and 15 physical education teachers and principals from primary schools outside S city. The interview with the youth training coaches from the S Professional Football Club is organized to ascertain information about the club’s goals, development status, and strategies adopted toward establishing youth football training bases. The interviews with the local and external campus football teachers are designed to collect information on the integration model and the specific support measures of their schools in cooperation with the S Professional Football Club.

Limitations

In this study, we develop an innovative analytical framework based on involution theory to systematically examine the integration efficiency between professional football clubs and campus youth training systems in China. The framework provides novel insights into the “growth without development” dilemma in sports governance.

A 90-day district inquiry

Days 1–15 · Appraise. Read the source methods, recruitment, comparator, outcomes and limitations. Record how the study setting differs from your district and which claim the design can support.
Days 16–30 · Design. Select one recurring district decision. Publish the decision owner, evidence requirements, consultation process and appeal route; test the process on a bounded low-risk decision. Agree participation, privacy protections, baseline and stopping rules before starting.
Days 31–60 · Observe. Collect the pre-agreed measures, keep a log of implementation changes and invite confidential voluntary feedback. Preserve existing support for staff and learners.
Days 61–90 · Decide. Track decision time, unresolved objections, documented reasons, appeals and access differences. Review whether the process changes who can participate and who carries the burden. Make a dated decision to stop, revise or extend the inquiry.

Board decision brief

Present the local problem, source setting, evidence limits, intervention, responsible owner, total cost, measured changes and uncertainty. Separate staff perceptions, implementation measures and student learning outcomes.

Attribution and reuse

Lin Wang; Chuanfang Zhu; Yuyuan Zhang; Lan Wang. Involution and governance reform in professional football club–school integration: a case study of S City’s youth training base. Frontiers in Physiology (2025-04-30). https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2025.1557875

Prepared 2026-11-07. Source authorship and DOI are preserved. The abstract and source passages are attributed extracts; this editorial guide is offered under the same CC BY 4.0 license.