00:00Brazil is a football powerhouse.
00:07But these kids from a remote part of China
00:10are flying some 17,000 kilometers to Rio de Janeiro
00:14to take to the pitch against some Brazilian kids
00:17in a football match.
00:22To find out what it's all about,
00:24I traveled to Rongjiang County in southwestern China
00:27where these young players are from.
00:29This small county is known across China
00:32for one thing, football.
00:36Rongjiang is popular for live streaming
00:38its grassroots amateur football tournaments
00:41celebrated for their authentic, fun
00:43and community-centered spirit.
00:48To further cultivate a love for the sport,
00:50a Chinese NGO has decided to sponsor
00:53six primary school students here
00:55for a friendly in Brazil this November.
00:59Xu Xiangyang is one of them.
01:05And there's only one way to find out
01:07if he has what it takes.
01:09All right, here's the plan.
01:10One of my cameramen is going head-to-head
01:12with my little brother Xu here,
01:14and I, I'm going to be the goalie.
01:29My hands definitely felt that.
02:00Wow, these kids are training pretty hard.
02:03I really hope little brother Xu
02:05will have a great time in Rio.
02:07After promising to see each other in Brazil,
02:10I flew to Rio ahead of time.
02:19I tried to meet some local youth players,
02:21particularly in the middle of the night.
02:25I tried to meet some local youth players,
02:27particularly in the favelas.
02:30These are urban slums that are home
02:32to over 16 million Brazilians.
02:35Many of the country's biggest superstars
02:37came out of neighborhoods like this.
02:40So we've arrived at one of the many favelas
02:43in the state of Rio.
02:44If you want to find young talents,
02:46perhaps this is the place to look.
02:49And of course, this is not an ideal environment
02:52for children to grow up in.
02:54Many favelas are controlled by drug gangs,
02:57leading to frequent shootouts
02:59between them and law enforcement,
03:01sometimes resulting in collateral damage.
03:05Yet, despite the favela's grim reputation,
03:08you can always find a place of pure joy.
03:12This is the community football pitch.
03:22The kids are being trained by a local non-profit
03:25founded in 2004 by a former professional player.
03:29The program focuses on teaching children
03:32aged 6 to 15 the fundamentals of football.
03:36So what is the idea behind the project?
03:39The biggest pleasure I have is to know
03:42that I can teach children
03:44the fundamentals of football.
03:46So what is the idea behind the project?
03:49The biggest pleasure I have is to know
03:52that the project was a success.
03:55It helped these families to get these children
03:59out of the wrong path they were on.
04:03Children who had no dreams,
04:06who lived in a community
04:08where there was nothing for them to do.
04:11We went to visit the families of some of the young players.
04:14Nice to meet you.
04:1611-year-old Maria has been practicing for a year.
04:21So who is your favorite player?
04:23Neymar.
04:25I love my family and I want to be a football player
04:28so I can be a famous player
04:32and help them here at home.
04:36There was a tragedy not long ago,
04:38nine months ago,
04:39when their mother died of cancer.
04:42But we try to keep the same rhythm, you know?
04:45And if it's her dream,
04:47I want her to make it come true.
04:53When you said that you wanted to become a football star
04:56to help your family,
04:58what did you mean by that?
05:01I want to be a football player
05:03because my mother died.
05:06I always told her that I would one day be a football player.
05:12When I score a goal,
05:15I always point to the sky,
05:18because the goal is for her.
05:22Maria wasn't the only child I spoke to that day
05:25who dreamed of becoming a famous football star.
05:28The sentiment is often strong
05:31and sometimes quite heavy.
05:34One day I can get there.
05:36It's my potential.
05:39One day I can get there.
05:42It all depends on me.
05:46There's a saying that football and music
05:49are the ways out for children from the favelas.
05:53While this sentence sounds aspirational,
05:56it does also allude to the challenges
05:59and limited opportunities that children here face
06:02in building a better life.
06:06This child, Lucas Gabriel, led me to his home,
06:10located further up the hills.
06:12That's a lot of stairs.
06:15Typical terrain for many favelas.
06:18We lost him!
06:19Oh my God, where is he?
06:22There you are.
06:24He is cared for by his single mother,
06:26who supports a family of three
06:28by working at the supermarket.
06:30I get up at 5 a.m. and come back at 4 p.m.
06:34He goes to school.
06:36Now I'm not so afraid,
06:38but I was afraid of getting shot at any time.
06:41Because it happened a lot here.
06:43Now, thank God, it's better.
06:45But I didn't have time to shoot him.
06:51This family receives help from the government.
06:54Brazil has a welfare program called Bolsa Família,
06:58which provides eligible families
07:00with a minimum monthly payment of 600 Brazilian Reais,
07:04or about 100 U.S. dollars.
07:06Households can receive additional support for children
07:09as long as they attend school and are vaccinated.
07:13I provide him with transportation, clothes,
07:16shoes, and shoes.
07:19Everything we need to buy,
07:22I buy with this money and with what I earn.
07:27Brazil initiated the Global Alliance
07:29Against Hunger and Poverty this November
07:32at the G20 Summit in Rio,
07:34where countries are expected to share
07:36poverty alleviation strategies.
07:39Bolsa Família is a key component
07:41of Brazil's policy model.
07:46Over on the other side of the world in China,
07:49poverty has also been a challenge for Rongjiang County.
07:53Here's something that's true across the world.
07:56It's by breaking free from the cycle of poverty
07:59that kids get to have a fulfilling childhood.
08:07Before I left Rongjiang for Brazil,
08:09I met Long Tongyi.
08:11She's not on the team that's bound for Brazil.
08:14Long comes from a low-income family
08:16that relies on government assistance.
08:20After a chat, she agreed to take us to her home,
08:23which is in an old and underprivileged area of the county,
08:26to film her family's living conditions.
08:56After a deeper conversation,
09:11I found out that Long's mother
09:13has been suffering from lupus,
09:15a severe autoimmune disease
09:17that ultimately shut down her kidneys.
09:26She's so mature for her age,
09:46almost extraordinarily so.
09:48So this county, Rongjiang County,
09:50is situated in one of the poorest regions of China.
09:54This county only lifted its poverty designation in 2020.
09:59Long receives education subsidies
10:02and free lunches at school.
10:04And her father told us that the government
10:06covers most of his wife's dialysis costs,
10:09leaving the family to pay only 17 yuan,
10:12less than 3 U.S. dollars per week,
10:14for the treatment.
10:16China's approach to poverty alleviation
10:18often includes infrastructure development.
10:21This community in Rongjiang County
10:23used to experience yearly flooding
10:25until a government project raised the nearby riverbanks.
10:29And since Rongjiang went viral
10:31for its football livestreams in 2023,
10:34special grants have been allocated
10:36to enhance its football infrastructure.
10:54All right, it's November the 18th in Rio.
10:57The friendship match is about to start.
10:59Very exciting.
11:02There they are.
11:17Look at them go.
11:19These kids from the remote Chinese county of Rongjiang
11:23have come a long way.
11:48Happy.
11:58The love of football has brought kids
12:00from two opposite ends of the planet
12:02closer together.
12:04Though their lives are different,
12:06some of their challenges are remarkably similar.
12:09And while these youngsters took to the pitch
12:12for the love of the beautiful game,
12:14world leaders gathered in Rio for the G20 summit,
12:17the very same day.
12:19A reminder that the future of our next generation
12:22should be a top priority on the global agenda.
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