Kiyoshi Sekiguchi from J.League 1 Shonan Bellmare club receives a jersey of SHB Đà Nẵng during a visit to the central city's team. The two clubs expect to promote cooperations in youth football training in the future. — Photo courtesy of SHB Đà Nẵng

ĐÀ NẴNG — Director of International Department of J.League 1 Shonan Bellmare club, Kiyoshi Sekiguchi, paid a working visit to SHB Đà Nẵng to talk about future cooperations between the two clubs.

The Vietnamese national football premier championship, V.League 1 team said the visit marked the first concrete steps in exchanging management experience and training young footballers.

SHB Đà Nẵng said the two teams expect to build up football links, partner in youth training development and take part in cultural exchanges between Đà Nẵng and Japan.

Earlier, J.League 1 Shonan Bellmare, which based in Hiratsuka, in the west of Kanagawa Prefecture, inked an agreement with PVF Football Academy on sharing youth football training.

Hòa Xuân Stadium is the home turf of SHB Đà Nẵng football team. The club plans to upgrade the stadium to a FIFA-accredited pitch. — VNS Photo Công Thành

Last year, the Japanese International Co-operation Agency (JICA) and J.League Kawasaki Frontale football club also launched a sports facility centre in Bình Dương, aiming to improve training and education facilities for children.

In 2013, the Việt Nam-Japan Soccer Star Sports Centre (VJSS) was founded to provide football and education courses for 5,000 children in Hà Nội, HCM City, Vũng Tàu and Đà Nẵng.

J.League Kawasaki Frontale often sends their team to meet local children in Đà Nẵng during the annual Việt Nam-Japanese Cultural Exchange Day.

Last month, SHB Đà Nẵng also signed an agreement with VietGoal, the largest football training centre for kids in Việt Nam, on the development of young future footballers for the central city team and promotions of all football-related activities.

Earlier this month, SHB Đà Nẵng hosted a visit by Pablo Casaos , La Liga Vietnam representative, who toured the club’s facilities and watched a match between Đà Nẵng team and Becamex Bình Dương in the V.League1.

The team has been seeking participation from football academies in Spain, Portugal and Brazil in building an international standard football academy in Đà Nẵng City.

SHB won the Vietnamese premier football championship in 1992, 2009 and 2012 and two National Cup titles in 1993 and 2009.

The club plans to upgrade on its 20,000-seat Hòa Xuân Stadium, turning the venue into a FIFA-accredited turf pitch with new facilities.

The team continues training footballers in categories from U11s through U21s to compete in tournaments this season. — VNS