Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region will establish 900 specialty schools to promote soccer among teenagers and will build 200 school soccer fields by the end of 2020, the Xinhua News Agency reported on Thursday.
The soccer schools will select 10 percent of students from local elementary schools, 30 percent from middle schools and 60 percent from high schools.
The local government will also set up a system for soccer competition among the schools and will conduct performances and art competitions to benefit students, said Erkin Memet, director of the physical education, health and art department at Xinjiang's education bureau.
The Xinjiang government has been pushing the development of soccer among teenagers in recent years through special budgets for promoting the sport among students. The funds have also gone toward building, renovating and expanding campus soccer fields.
In 2011, Xinjiang authorities issued a document on developing youth soccer across the region. Since then, the number of students playing soccer has increased from around 10,000 students at just over 200 schools to 300,000 students at over 1,000 schools.
President Xi Jinping is widely known to be a soccer fan and has reportedly voiced his support for the sport's development in China.
Xi said in 2011 that his three wishes for Chinese soccer are "to qualify for another World Cup, to host a World Cup and to win a World Cup championship."
