Alex Teixeira of Jiangsu Suning in action during a match against Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors from South Korea in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, on March 1. (Photo: China Daily/Shi Rui)
Sporting authorities are planning further development of the world's most popular game to drive economic growth and prepare the way for eventually hosting the FIFA World Cup. [Special coverage]
Stepping onto the soccer pitch at Beijing No 4 High School, where he started playing the game about 50 years ago, Zhang Lu, vice-president of Chinese Super League club Beijing Guo'an, couldn't help recalling fond memories of dribbling a rubber ball on the then-worn-out turf every evening after school.
"This is right where my generation's passion for the game took root and blossomed. I am extremely happy to see how far it has developed," said Zhang, who enrolled at the school in 1967, during a recent visit.
Nearly half a century later, the school campus has been extended, the once-shabby pitch has been replaced by an evergreen, artificial pitch and a school league has just kicked off its eighth season, featuring more than 200 students.
The game's popularity at the school, which is renowned for high academic standards, has impressed Zhang, who played as goalkeeper for the Beijing municipal team in his youth.
"This is just a students' league, but it seems so professionally organized. It's a good move to highlight soccer as an educational tool. I am delighted to see the students enjoying the game on campus like we used to," he said.
Wu Hong, a physical education teacher at the school, said 170 male and 100 female students have signed up for an optional weekly soccer PE course.
Wu and his students are part of a network of 34 elementary and secondary schools in the capital that provides soccer-specialty courses as part of China's plan to raise the profile of the game from the grassroots up to the professional level.
Recent developments
In March last year, inspired by President Xi Jinping's expressed desire to see China qualify for, host and eventually win the FIFA World Cup, the pinnacle of the professional game, the central government issued a blueprint to boost the game's development through youth promotion and reform of the professional leagues.
The number of schools with mandatory soccer courses is targeted to reach 50,000 by 2025, from more than 8,000 at present, and 50,000 school soccer teachers will be trained in the next five years.
According to the Ministry of Education, 146 government-funded youth coaches from overseas have already worked across the country with students and teachers, and a further 120 more will be invited this year.
Pei Encai, a former coach of the Chinese women's national team, who now runs a youth training camp with Ray Sports, a company based in Beijing, said the game needs to attract more young people.
"The only way to build a solid grassroots foundation for the game is to do it on campus. We will only be able to build professional competence when enough kids are playing soccer in schools," Pei said.
Professional zeal
Compared with the patient approach adopted by promoters of youth soccer, lavish investment in the game at the elite level has rocked the soccer world as Chinese teams rush to raise the game's profile by hiring big-name foreign players.
During the latest winter transfer window, clubs in the CSL, China's top-flight competition, spent a staggering 334 million euros ($374 million), the highest of any league in the world according to the German sports website Transfermarkt. The cash on offer has lured a veritable foreign legion to play in the CSL's 2016 season, which kicked off on March 4.
Attacking Brazilian midfielder Alex Teixeira, who cost his new side Jiangsu Suning a CSL record 50 million euros when he transferred from Shakhtar Donetsk in Ukraine, is just one of the top players to have left the game's major stage to play in China. Other new arrivals include Brazilian midfielder Ramires, who was acquired from the English Premier League club Chelsea, and Argentinian striker Ezequiel Lavezzi, who arrived from the French league giant Paris Saint-Germain.
The league's spending spree could have been even bigger: England captain Wayne Rooney recently revealed to British media that he had turned down "an astronomical offer" to join CSL stalwart Shanghai SIPG.
