The second national youth football elite invitational tournament ends at the Hefei National High-tech Industry Development Zone, Anhui province, Oct 6. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

The second national youth football elite invitational tournament ended at the Hefei National High-tech Industry Development Zone, Anhui province, Oct 6. After five days of group matches and knockout, the top three teams of U9-U11 groups stood out. 

The tournament is hosted by the Hefei sports bureau with help from a wide range of public groups. 

At the opening ceremony of the tournament, Cao Xiaoji, an official from the zone, said that they were trying their best and working closely with other departments to build a healthy campus football culture, which is based on a complete tournament system, aims at teamwork, and takes school as the basic unit and physical fitness as the starting point. 

A total of 32 football unions from 13 cities in five provinces participated in the event. Many of them sent two or three teams to compete for different age groups. The 350 young athletes showed their youth and vitality, and cooperated, defended and fought hard in the 118 matches. They allowed people to witness the charm of football and the spirit of unity and they fully enjoyed the passion brought by football. 

A primary school from Zhengzhou city in Henan province won the championship of U9, and another primary school from Zhengzhou took home the championship of both U10 and U11 groups. A youth football club from Hefei High-tech Zone ranked fourth in U9, and sixth in U10 and U11.