Sixteen teams of students aged around 17 from 10 countries will gather in Shanghai next month to take part in an international youth football competition — the China (Shanghai) International Youth Football Invitational 2018.

The competition, which has been held in Shanghai annually since 2015, aims to improve the quality of China's campus football as well as promote international youth exchanges via the popular sport.

This year’s competition will take place from July 8 to July 14 and the 32 matches will be held across four districts in Shanghai: Yangpu, Putuo, Qingpu and Minhang.

“The event will be extremely competitive this year as many strong youth teams, such as the club teams from France, Belgium, Mexico and Ivory Coast, will join,” said Ding Li, director of the sports and arts division of the Shanghai Education Commission, at a news conference on Friday.

China's national campus football office will also send a team for the first time. Its 22 team members were selected from last year's national youth campus football summer camp.

A series of football and culture-related activities, such as a football forum, training camps and cultural exchanges, will also be organized during the period.