The Chinese Ministry of Education has published results of selected specialized football kindergartens across the country, with 3,570 kindergartens from 31 provinces and cities around the country on the list. 

The number of each province and city's kindergartens vary from around 20 to over 200. Some provinces such as Shandong, Sichuan, Fujian and Henan, all have over 200 kindergartens selected. Others have fewer. For example, Hunan has 80, Yunan 68, Ningxia 64 and Hebei 62. Beijing has 84, Shanghai 107, Chongqing 98 and Tianjin 81. (To view the complete list in Chinese, please click here

 Specialized Football Kindergartens 2019.xlsx.) 

Among these, there are 2,850 public kindergartens and 720 private kindergartens. 

The Ministry of Education made an announcement about the selection project in March, calling for provincial education departments to submit applications before July 1. 

The specialized football kindergarten project aims to develop an interest in football, good football culture and related fundamental physical senses and capabilities. It is meant to mainly organize football-related games and to not exceed the physical capabilities of the youngsters. 

The project is designed to be a part of the bigger national youth football development system in China which is mainly looked after by the National Campus Football Office. The idea is that children can start to get in contact with football and develop interest from a young age. After they finish kindergarten, there are many specialized football schools and “Man Tian Xing” training camps around the country that can offer more football related education and training. 

Provincial-level education departments supervise and develop the projects. 

References: Ministry of Education announcement 1, Ministry of Education 2,  

Proofread by Levison Makuvise