The Chinese Football Association has announced the country is likely to set up two special soccer training centers in Yanbian, Northeast China's Jilin Province and Kashi in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.
Nearly 30 members of the association from across the country gathered earlier this month in Chengdu, Sichuan Province to discuss future development plans for juvenile soccer training, the People's Daily reported on Monday.
Du Zhaocai, a senior official from the association, said that the country is considering special training centers for young players in Yanbian and Kashi as a pilot project.
Du said that over the next few years, the association will also establish training centers in Europe and South America and is dedicated to building international platforms to enhance the skills of China's young soccer players and help them succeed as world-class players.
Du said European training centers could be established in Germany, Spain, and Czech while the South American center will be in Brazil.
China's national drive on soccer development was endorsed in a plan issued by the State Council in 2016.
It calls for the country's team to enter soccer's "elite club" and become a "world-class soccer nation" by 2050, the Xinhua News Agency reported.
By 2020, China will have 20,000 soccer academies, 30 million elementary and middle school students playing the sport, and more than 50 million Chinese active in the game, according to the plan.
