China to build 30,000 additional schools emphasizing soccer training by 2025

China plans to build 30,000 additional schools by 2025 that emphasize soccer training, reports China News Service.

A foreign soccer coach demonstrates playing skills to students at a Chinese school. [File photo: Chinanews.com]

According to China's Ministry of Education, soccer programs were rolled out in more than 20,000 schools by July 2017, and guidelines will be issued this year to help improve the current training system.

Under the new scheme, students at these schools should be offered one soccer lesson every week. The schools should also organize after-school training, as well as inner-school and inter-school matches.

Primary school students attend a class on soccer in Lanzhou, Gansu Province, on January 4, 2018. [File photo: VCG]

These moves reflect the ambition of Chinese President Xi Jinping, an avid football fan, to prepare the younger generation to reach benchmarks he laid-out for Chinese football, including qualifying for, hosting, and eventually winning the World Cup.

Primary school students keep up their soccer training despite the cold weather in Lanzhou, Gansu Province, on January 4, 2018. [File photo: VCG]

The Ministry of Education says the number of higher education institutions with a high-level football team has doubled since 2015. More soccer teachers, including foreign teachers, have been employed during the last three years.