Chinese education authorities announced that they encourage and support eligible universities' recruitment of students with soccer skills to form high-level soccer teams.
This appears to be the first time that the ministry has highlighted soccer in its circular on recruiting students with special talent in art and sports, China West City Daily reported on Tuesday.
The statement, published on the official website of China's Ministry of Education (MOE) on December 22, said that the MOE encourages eligible universities to form high-level soccer teams through an existing separate track allowing students recruited for nonacademic talents to enroll with lower academic scores.
The statement also specified the maximum number of recruits and defined basic academic standards for them.
"Previously, it was hard for teachers in primary or secondary schools to encourage students to play soccer, as many universities had stopped recruiting students for their soccer skills. This statement paves the way for students to gain admission to their ideal universities through their talent in soccer," Ma Dexing, deputy editor of Changsha-based Titan Sports, told the Global Times.
Tsinghua University, one of the top universities in China, began to recruit soccer players in March and was estimated to have admitted up to 12 of the 100 candidates it considered, following a 5-year suspension of recruitment, news site cnr.com reported in March.
The Global Times also learned that Peking University plans to recruit male soccer talents in 2016.
A former Beijing-based university soccer player who asked to remain anonymous told the Global Times on Tuesday that in addition to receiving governmental support, players also expect university presidents to begin attaching greater importance to soccer on campus.
Soccer classes, clubs and schools have mushroomed across China after the country's central reform group, headed by President Xi Jinping, passed an ambitious plan to develop and revitalize soccer in February. "We must develop and revitalize soccer to ensure we are a strong nation of sports," read a statement issued after the plan's unveiling, the Xinhua News Agency reported.
As a soccer fan, Xi has repeatedly spurred China's footballers to step up.
In August, the MOE announced a plan to include soccer in an index assessing students' overall performance and vowed to establish 50,000 soccer schools by the end of 2025.
