Elementary school students learn to play soccer in Huainan, East China's Anhui Province, on September 3, 2024. The local education department has issued a notice requiring all compulsory education schools in the province to offer one physical education class every day starting from the autumn semester of 2024, ensuring that students have two hours of physical activity per day. Photo: VCG

Recently, Party and government officials of various regions of China including Hangzhou, Wenzhou, Suzhou, and Nanjing have been focusing on soccer development, either by attending matches in person or by conducting research.

The 2024 Hangzhou Campus Soccer Annual Summary Event and the Hangzhou "Mayor's Cup" Campus Soccer High School Men's Finals were held in Hangzhou city, East China's Zhejiang Province, on Monday afternoon, according to the Hangzhou Daily. 

Liu Jie, Deputy Secretary of the CPC Zhejiang Provincial Committee and Secretary of the CPC Hangzhou Municipal Committee, kicked off the game. Deputy Secretary of the CPC Hangzhou Municipal Committee and Mayor of Hangzhou Yao Gaoyuan was also in attendance.

The"Mayor's Cup" Campus Soccer League is the largest and highest-level school soccer event in Hangzhou, organized by the Hangzhou Education Bureau and the Sports Bureau. It attracted over 23,000 students with nearly 5,000 matches.

China plans to build between 16 and 18 so-called soccer cities between 2021 and 2025, according to a document published by the country's State General Administration of Sport in 2021.

Hangzhou is a "key city" for national soccer development. On October 24, a mobilization and deployment meeting for the construction of national key cities for soccer development was held in Hangzhou, attended by Liu and Yao.

Liu emphasized the importance of focusing on players, facilitating the growth of young soccer talents, improving the talent development system, enhancing infrastructure, sports rehabilitation, and accident insurance, and creating a professional youth training environment. Efforts are being made to address the issue of "retirement at 12," and to foster an environment where youth are willing, able, and happy to play soccer.

Furthermore, as reported by the Hangzhou Daily on November 28, Yao recently conducted specific research on soccer development in Hangzhou. He stressed the need to improve the mechanisms for soccer development and strengthen service guarantees.

Wenzhou, another "key city" for soccer in East China's Zhejiang, has hosted multiple national-level events. This year, for the first time, the Wenzhou municipal government proposed to strive to become a national key city for soccer development. 

According to the Wenzhou Daily, on November 23, Zhang Jiasheng, a deputy director of the General Administration of Sport and Party secretary of Chinese Soccer Association (CFA), visited Wenzhou to research the development of soccer, with Zhang Zhenfeng, Vice Governor of Zhejiang and Secretary of Wenzhou Municipal Committee of CPC, participating in the research.

During the research, Zhang stated that Wenzhou aims to build a high-level sports powerhouse, accelerate the creation of a city known for sports and competitive events, and focus on areas such as professional soccer talent training, competitive level enhancement, population base expansion, and industrial system construction, while continuing to deepen reforms in the field of soccer.

In East China's Jiangsu province, a neighboring province of Zhejiang, local leaders are also highly attentive to soccer development.

On November 24, the second round of inaugural Jiangsu Soccer Development Key City Competition took place at the Nanjing Olympic Sports Center, with teams from Nanjing and Suzhou participating. Xu Kunlin, Governor of Jiangsu Province, attended and presented awards, with Deputy Governors Xia Xinmin and Zhao Yan, and Nanjing mayor Chen Zhichang also watching the match.

Like Hangzhou, Nanjing and Suzhou are also key cities for national soccer development. According to Jiangsu's Xinhua Daily, this challenge aimed to strengthen the leading role of Nanjing and Suzhou as key cities through soccer competitions and exchanges, to enhance the provincial soccer competition system, create a strong soccer culture, and promote the rapid development of soccer across the province.

Before the competition, Liu Xiaotao, member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Jiangsu Provincial Committee and secretary of the CPC Suzhou Municipal Committee, also conducted specific research on soccer development. According to the Suzhou Daily, on November 21, Liu researched soccer reform and development work, and held a discussion to hear reports on the city's soccer reform, development, and construction work as a national soccer development key city. 

During the discussion, representatives from the local soccer association, Suzhou Dongwu Soccer Club, grassroots soccer workers, and soccer fans offered suggestions. Liu instructed relevant departments to carefully consider and thoroughly research and absorb these suggestions.

He pointed out that building national key cities for soccer development is an important lever for promoting soccer reform and development. To solidify institutional guarantees, through deepening reforms and innovations and exploring local legislation, effective solutions should be found for issues related to funding, integration of sports and education, venue guarantees, and youth training, ensuring the healthy development of soccer.

Global Times