Soccer plan aims to develop young talent in schools
Print Edition
A PLAN to revive soccer in China, a sport that has often been the source of great national embarrassment, was unveiled by the State Council yesterday.
It highlights a number of measures covering almost every aspect of the game from coaching in schools to international level.
Its goals include getting both the women’s and men’s national sides to rank with the world’s top teams in the medium and long term.
Bidding to host the World Cup is also listed as a long-term goal.
The reform plan was passed by China’s central reform group, chaired by President Xi Jinping, last month.
According to a statement issued after the February 27 meeting, Xi, a football fan who has bemoaned the country’s poor performances, said: “We must develop and revitalize soccer to ensure we are a strong nation of sports. It is the desperate desire of the people as well.”
In contrast to its excellence in sports such as table tennis, badminton, diving, shooting, weightlifting and gymnastics, China’s national soccer sides are poor performers on the world stage.
The men’s team, currently ranked 83rd, has qualified for just one World Cup finals, in 2002. Meanwhile, the women’s side are struggling to recreate the glory days of 1999 when they were World Cup runners-up. They failed to qualify for the 2011 competition.
There are plans to build two new training bases for the national teams.
China will bid to host the World Cup not only for achieving competitive results but also to popularize the sport in China, said Cai Zhenhua, president of the Chinese Football Association. “Along with our long-term plan to improve the environment of soccer and the popularization of the sport, China, as a big country, should bid to host the World Cup,” said Cai.
“However, the significance of it is not only to seek the competitive results. By hosting the biggest soccer event in the world, we can further popularize the sport in our country, bring soccer culture to more people, and lead more and more people to the world’s most popular sport,” Xinhua news agency quoted him as saying.
Cai said the association will begin to research which edition of the World Cup China will apply for.
As Russia and Qatar will host the 2018 and 2022 editions respectively, the earliest World Cup eligible to bid for will be in 2026.
“The development of Chinese soccer must be a long process. It’s not three years or five years, it’s not eight or 10 years. In the long run, we shouldn’t judge the work by the performances of national teams in a short period of time,” said Cai.
“As the plan says, we should make efforts to let more people take to the sport and let the culture of soccer take root among the people.”
The plan attaches great importance to grassroots soccer and developing young talent. Soccer will be compulsory in elementary and middle school curriculums across the country with 50,000 coaches deployed and some 20,000 schools having training programs providing professional level coaching to talented youngsters by 2020.
Another of the plan’s major reforms is to cut the link between the Chinese Football Association and the State General Administration of Sports.
The move will give the association the power to independently decide its own staffing and financing.
Authorities will also look at putting a cap on players’ salaries in order to increase competition between rich and poor teams and avoid financially destabilizing bidding wars. The plan said research will also be done into further restricting the use of foreign players, only five of whom are currently permitted per team.
The plan will also crack down on corruption, with regulations amended to ensure fair games. The game has long been plagued by corruption in its professional leagues.
In 2013, the CFA stripped Shanghai Shenhua of the 2003 league title and banned two former national soccer chiefs and 31 other people from the game for life.
China international Sun Ke expressed his support for the plan, Xinhua reported.
“The plan is great for children to take part in the sport and give their parents a lot of confidence,” he said.
“To tell the truth, some young talents have to give up soccer as a career because their parents are worried the uncertain future of a soccer player,” said the 25-year-old who went through an elementary school team in east China’s Jiangsu Province to Jiangsu Sainty club youth squad.
Chinese players, like most athletes, drop formal education once they pick up soccer as a career, which makes parents reluctant to let their children pursue the sport.
“The plan now can make sure little soccer enthusiasts study while they play soccer. The future of the sport will get better each day,” Sun said.
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