Local developments

The central government has focused on encouraging younger generations to get involved in soccer in recent years. A national soccer development plan was approved in February at a top-level meeting chaired by President Xi Jinping, who is an avid soccer fan himself.

According to the plan, the Ministry of Education aims to introduce special soccer training at 50,000 primary and secondary schools by 2025, up from the current 5,000, with the goal of generating more than 100,000 youth soccer players.

Shanghai has long been committed to encouraging the development of youth soccer training at schools. The city established the Shanghai School Football League in 2012 to increase the number of young soccer players and enhance soccer awareness among students.

Currently, the league has more than 10,000 soccer players from 17 universities, 39 high schools, 91 secondary schools and 133 primary schools. The league organizes nearly 2,000 soccer games annually to strengthen communication between soccer teams.

Earlier this year, Shanghai launched the School Football Instructor Training Program to provide five-day training sessions to 1,519 sports teachers from 17 districts, which helped trainees gain more soccer knowledge and qualified them to give soccer classes.

In the future, every primary and secondary school in Shanghai will have at least one soccer instructor who can organize soccer events.

Contact the writer at zhuanti@chinadaily.com.cn