Given China's poor soccer performances for decades, the Chinese Football Association has gained as poor a reputation among domestic soccer fans as the country's soccer team has.

It is not totally reasonable to attribute China's poor performances to unsatisfactory management by the authorities, but such a link has provided an outlet for the public to express their long-held grievances against the national soccer team's standing on the international stage. That can best explain why the authorities' decision to reform the association, as a part of its efforts to promote the overall soccer reform and development program, has attracted such attention.

Just like reform in other areas, China's soccer reforms should aim to break the fetters of entrenched interests and smash the institutional obstacles that lie in the way of the sport's development. The problems over the past years mean that reform of the game has now entered the deep-water area.