China's soccer authority has vowed to open 10,000 soccer kindergartens across the country by 2020.
The "Children soccer project" hosted by the Chinese Football Association (CFA) was launched in Beijing on Wednesday to promote soccer among preschool children between 3 to 6 years old to expand the soccer population, the Xinhua News Agency reported on Thursday.
The CFA's plan calls for opening up 10,000 soccer-themed kindergartens by 2020.
Starting Wednesday, the CFA will hold a "youth soccer promotion month" to mobilize the sub-associations and society to promote soccer through seminars and working with professional soccer leagues in China.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) in February announced a plan to raise the number of "schools characterized by soccer" to 20,000 by the end of the year and 50,000 by 2025, and to establish around 200 college soccer teams.
China launched its soccer reform program in 2015 and unveiled an ambitious blueprint in April 2016 to get 50 million children and adults to play soccer by the end of the decade, with the ultimate goal of becoming a "world soccer power" by 2050.
