China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) today (11th April) released The Mid-and-Long-Term Development Plan for Chinese soccer with the ambition to become a top team in the soccer world by 2050.

The Plan, compiled by NDRC, the Chinese Football Association, the General Administration of Chinese Sport and the Ministry of Education, will help China grow the sport of soccer in a healthy and consistent way over the long term.

The plan calls for people’s needs to be matched in terms of “playing fields, time and funding” as the short-term goal. This would lay a good foundation for the development of soccer by 2020. In this phase, the number of schools specialising in soccer is expected to reach 20,000 with over 30 million school students able to play soccer on a regular basis.

Secondly, the Plan hopes that soccer will become an important engine of the sports industry in China by 2030 with TEAM China becoming a leading player in Asia and the Women’s team edging into a leading power on the global stage. The Plan also aims to integrate the soccer industry with other industries, such as tourism, construction, health, etc.

In the long-term, China is expected to become a soccer powerhouse in the world by 2050, as the Plan states.

Source: Daily Finance

Proofread by John Devlin.