CFA plans to expand school soccer system

Soccer’s top governing body in China has vowed to expand the school soccer system and introduce more foreign coaching expertise, according to China daily.

The Chinese Football Association (CFA) announced last Sunday that a total of 120 foreign youth coaches will work in China to instruct student players and train local teachers, with financial support from the government. 

The move comes as high-profile foreign players are making headlines by joining Chinese league clubs for high transfer fees.

As part of the national soccer reform plan announced in March last year, the CFA will continue to co-operate with the Ministry of Education through 2016 to improve soccer education using foreign coaches. The association and the ministry agreed at a meeting on Sunday to review the plan after a year.

China has hired another 146 foreign trainers to work in 29 provinces and autonomous regions. They will support local training staff members said Wang Dengfeng, vice-president of the CFA and director of the Education Ministry’s Physical Education, Health and Art Department.

Inspired by President Xi Jinping’s desire to see China qualify, host and eventually win the FIFA World Cup, the country's educational authority has expanded a four-tier school league system, which operates from primary schools to colleges, to 16,186 schools at all levels, with mandatory weekly soccer courses.

The system is expected to include up to 50,000 schools specialising in soccer by 2025, according to the reform plan.

Source: China Daily

Proofread by John Devlin.