Young football players from Sergio De Ies' (first from right) football club are engaged in a match in a Beijing suburb. Photo: Courtesy of Sergio De Ies

The 50-year-old Sergio De Ieso is an Italian man who has been living in China for more than 17 years. Seeing Beijing as his second hometown, Sergio is truly versatile who was once an acrobat, owned a restaurant and starred in exciting kung fu action films like the 2021 Ip Man: The Awakening. 

Amongst all his titles, Sergio prefers that of "football dad," a nickname that was given to him by a group of village kids in Beijing's Changping district. Sergio put them into a club that fulfills these kids' football dreams. 

"I want those kids to learn to grow up while playing football," Sergio said. 

'Football dad' 
In a suburb outside the sixth ring road of Beijing, Sergio's team has 136 kids. Their ages range from 6 to 12 and 30 percent of them are girls. 

"We have regular training every Sunday and the attendance rate is around 60 percent," Sergio told the Global Times by adding that "monthly matches" are also the club's routine. 

Different from career-guided training, Sergio's football team focuses on the personal development of Chinese village children. 

He told the Global Times that his team is made up of children from different backgrounds. Some of the kids are shuttled to and from training sessions in their parents' Porsche, while others are from the village. His only requirement for joining the team is that their parents participate to his training too. 

"No matter what their upbringing is, I want those children to be able to express their feelings and attitude toward things," Sergio noted, adding that the "sense of collaboration" inside the team was the most valuable thing during a game. 

This year's March game was meant to be special. It was called The Little World Cup, a parent-child football match that Sergio has once brought to European countries such as Switzerland and Germany, but was for the first time organized for the Chinese children in the village. 

A total of 67 people, including different parent-children pairs participated in the Little World Cup. Each team represents a country of the world. Given standard football competition rules, Sergio has also brought his own game into the football world.

"There were 15 people and here were 10…" he said, describing one of his innovative games to the Global Times, while drawing on a notebook. The notebook with around 100 pages was nearly full. 

"I was designing another one while on the subway before joining this interview," Sergio told the Global Times. 

With such dedication, the Italian man said that his village football program was like a "psychological poverty alleviation" project for village children that can boost their confidence and plant the seed of football passion in their hearts.

Huo Zhong, a child psychological expert, told the Global Times that taking care of the mental health of children in the village is "as important as providing them with sufficient facilities and educational resources." 

"Activities as his [Sergio's] can help children think of themselves as successful. This kind of impression can last for an amazingly long time even when one is 30. It is a lifetime encouragement," Huo noted. 

"The trophy was plastic, but all kids are champions," Sergio said referring to the Li Saiyang, Deng Han and Deng Mo families who were the silver and bronze medalists of his March Game. 

Dream in a coke bottle 

Before fulfilling his football coaching dream in China, Sergio had been fascinated by Chinese culture for a long time.

In 1996, Sergio set his foot in Beijing for the first time. 

He told the Global Times that he was charmed by the "purity" of Chinese culture and people. 

"It was since then that I decided to stay in Beijing and have a family here. Chinese culture is so profound and unique," he said. 

Sergio said that his Chinese culture fascination begun when his 4-year-old first encountered Bruce Lee's kung fu films. 

It was at that moment that Sergio decided to save for his dream to be landed in China. 

"I prepared a one liter coke bottle and tossed money into my savings pot until I could afford a flight ticket to Beijing. It was a five-year saving journey," Sergio noted, by adding that Chinese culture seems to have a "mysterious power" on him. 

Though now the Italian man has settled in Beijing with his son and mainly engages in his football program, he has had a variety of life experiences. 

He has been a social worker helping people afflicted by drug addiction in Italy and he has also worked in a retirement home helping the elderly, before he came to China. 

"Such experiences made me see real love between and the value of each individual, this exceeds cultural and racial differences," Sergio said, adding that he is planning a new football program for disabled children in China.