China: government increases promotion of football training in a growing number of schools

The Chinese government has made football training a compulsory element in a growing number of schools in order to raise the level of the country in the sport, the government announced on 28/11/2014. The responsibility for the promotion of football training in Chinese youth, currently assigned to the national federation, will now be the responsibility of the Ministry of National Education.

"Football has never been a serious promotion in Chinese schools, because of the predominance of studies," says Wu Wenqiang, vice dean of Peking University of Sports, on 28/11/2014. China is ranked 99^th in the FIFA (International Federation of Association Football) rankings as of 27/11/2014, preceded by Oman (96^th), Latvia (97^th) and Qatar (98^th).

China: Only three matches played in the World Cup (in 2002), with three losses

• "Chinese football would have already reached a global level if this sport had been promoted earlier in schools," said Liu Hechun, physical education instructor of a primary school in the city of Dalian (Northeast), a school renowned in China for its talented footballers, on…