China to require every kid to play soccer

[Team Melli Fan]

http://prosoccertalk.nbcsports.com/2...o-play-soccer/

[Z Joon]

I think that China has the potential to easily be as good as Korea and Japan in 10 years or so. They have way too much population not to be able to find great talents here and there. They are also naturally good and dedicated in most sports unlike other big populations like India, Pakistan etc.. where it's safe to say that they will never be relevant in football any soon

[persianfire]

China (and Korea) is only good at mickey mouse competitions. Tbh it's annoying that they lead the medal table at Olympics and Asian Games winning so many useless sports. In major sports like football and basketball, we are better than them.

[Ali.Karimi79]

.... In major sports like football and basketball, we are better than them.

If playing football becomes mandatory they will definately become better than us.

[Kiarash]

With all the money China has for development in sports, their football team is doing outstanding piss poor.

[Soosk]

If you guys havent noticed the reason china wins so many medals in the Olympics is because they go after obscure sports and even more obscure weights. They specifically target sports and weight groups in those sports which have little or no competition. They rack up medals like this. They also cheat by faking birth certificates and on some occasions by doping. By world standards they are not good in the real big major sports like football. I think if they really try with football they can become good by Asian standards sooner or later but not much more than this. Also as a country they genuinely don't have much of a passion for the sport of football. Of course funding, coaching and infrastructure are necessary but you also absolutely need passion to become a global leader in a particular sport.

[Bi-honar]

I think that China has the potential to easily be as good as Korea and Japan in 10 years or so. They have way too much population not to be able to find great talents here and there. They are also naturally good and dedicated in most sports unlike other big populations like India, Pakistan etc.. where it's safe to say that they will never be relevant in football any soon

Actually bro, the Indians are also taking MAJOR steps to become relevant in Football. I just found out about this a couple of days ago, but this year they launched the 1st edition of the Super League, which is structured similar to the MLS in the US and the the playoff final is this Saturday. Some VERY notable achievements of the league in its 1st year:

* Highest Attendance: 65,000 (Portuguese Primeira Liga, 62,000!)

* Average Attendance: 26,300 (IPL: 7,500!)

* International Broadcast Coverage: Fox Sports, Eurosport!

* Notable Players: Alessandro Del Piero, Robert Pires, David Trezeguet, Freddy Ljungberg, Luis Garcia, Joan Capdevila!!!

* Notable Coaches: Zico (yeah, the one!), Peter Reid (Man City/England U21), Franco Colomba(Parma/Napoli/etc.) Antonio Lopez (Valencia/Sporting Gijon), Harm van Veldhoven (Roda JC)

Although this was the first season and the league hasn't exported any players, because of its success and coverage surpassing that of the I-league (the original Indian league [semi pro] which is running in parallel but has been struggling), it's just a matter of time before its players get noticed and tried in European leagues. Some I-league players have already had trials at Rangers, Wigan and Leipzig (no signings though).

It's still going to be some time before the success of the Super League translates to international or club success at the continental level, but with the amount of money being spent and the shear size of India's population, it will happen - it's just a matter of time IMHO.

[greatpersian]

If you guys havent noticed the reason china wins so many medals in the Olympics is because they go after obscure sports and even more obscure weights. They specifically target sports and weight groups in those sports which have little or no competition. They rack up medals like this. They also cheat by faking birth certificates and on some occasions by doping. By world standards they are not good in the real big major sports like football. I think if they really try with football they can become good by Asian standards sooner or later but not much more than this. Also as a country they genuinely don't have much of a passion for the sport of football. Of course funding, coaching and infrastructure are necessary but you also absolutely need passion to become a global leader in a particular sport.

Agreed with you about the Olympics. But trust me, football is very popular in China, especially after Yao Ming started to decline in NBA (Basketball used to rival football there). That's why I wonder why their national football team struggles at Asian level.

[Z Joon]

Actually bro, the Indians are also taking MAJOR steps to become relevant in Football. I just found out about this a couple of days ago, but this year they launched the 1st edition of the Super League, which is structured similar to the MLS in the US and the the playoff final is this Saturday. Some VERY notable achievements of the league in its 1st year:

* Highest Attendance: 65,000 (Portuguese Primeira Liga, 62,000!)

* Average Attendance: 26,300 (IPL: 7,500!)

* International Broadcast Coverage: Fox Sports, Eurosport!

* Notable Players: Alessandro Del Piero, Robert Pires, David Trezeguet, Freddy Ljungberg, Luis Garcia, Joan Capdevila!!!

* Notable Coaches: Zico (yeah, the one!), Peter Reid (Man City/England U21), Franco Colomba(Parma/Napoli/etc.) Antonio Lopez (Valencia/Sporting Gijon), Harm van Veldhoven (Roda JC)

Although this was the first season and the league hasn't exported any players, because of its success and coverage surpassing that of the I-league (the original Indian league [semi pro] which is running in parallel but has been struggling), it's just a matter of time before its players get noticed and tried in European leagues. Some I-league players have already had trials at Rangers, Wigan and Leipzig (no signings though).

It's still going to be some time before the success of the Super League translates to international or club success at the continental level, but with the amount of money being spent and the shear size of India's population, it will happen - it's just a matter of time IMHO.

Yeah I'm totally aware of what's going on in their league. When I heard that all those retired players were joining these indian teams I laughed a lot. I can see what they are doing and how they are growing the popularity there. But Indians are not naturally talented athletes, and you can't just create talents just by increasing popularity and buying your way in. There are many factors that are involved and a country like China has much more potential in building themselves a future in football. It might happen for India, but I predict that it won't.
Obviously the attendances will be very high, their massive population needs no introduction, so we can't compare other countries with them imo. I can't see them becoming any better than a 3rd tier Asian team like Thailand or Vietnam. I think that league is hyped way too much and buying couple of old retired stars and channel rights won't remove the amateur label from it.

[Bi-honar]

Yeah I'm totally aware of what's going on in their league. When I heard that all those retired players were joining these indian teams I laughed a lot. I can see what they are doing and how they are growing the popularity there. But Indians are not naturally talented athletes, and you can't just create talents just by increasing popularity and buying your way in. There are many factors that are involved and a country like China has much more potential in building themselves a future in football. It might happen for India, but I predict that it won't.
Obviously the attendances will be very high, their massive population needs no introduction, so we can't compare other countries with them imo. I can't see them becoming any better than a 3rd tier Asian team like Thailand or Vietnam. I think that league is hyped way too much and buying couple of old retired stars and channel rights won't remove the amateur label from it.

Yeah, totally agree with you on all that bro, Don't forget though that genetics is a game of numbers and when you have a genetic pool of 1.2+ billion people, you're bound to produce some geniuses and superstars in every field. The problem with India is that they've never had the proper infrastructure in sports (other than in Cricket and field hockey) to find, train and nurture these talents.

So they're undoubtedly out there, but not being found and brought to the top at the moment. By the looks of it, that's what the Chinese have finally figured out too and are trying to do with their program - they're in the same shoes with the genetic pool. Once you start monitoring kids at an early age for hidden talents in Football (or anything else for that matter) you're bound to discover lots of raw talent IMHO.

And if you look at India's medal count at the Olympics, they're definitely making inroads in all sports. Until 2008, they have never got more than 2 medals at the Olympics and that was just once at the Helsinki Olympics back in the days. 2008 Beijing they got 3 medals. 2012 London they doubled that!

[KC McElroy]

The Indian League is only 2 months long. Hardly enough to develop and maintain talent.

[GoIran]

I've never seen a world class Chinese athlete in major sports. Even Philippines produced boxing legend Manny Pacquiao.

[khodam]

China use to be a power house in volleyball. But they did not Excell as fast as US and other countries. They can force individuals to their ultimate physical level. But just like ours their system is incapable of producing the mind set needed to play a team sport like soccer. At least not yet.

[greatpersian]

China use to be a power house in volleyball. But they did not Excell as fast as US and other countries.

Their women's team was a powerhouse. But we all know women's sports are a joke. In women's football China was a powerhouse and Japan is the current world champions lol. As for China men's volleyball team, they were never successful on the world stage. You might confuse China with Japan who won men's volleyball titles at the Olympics and World Championship (They have declined a lot, though).

[khodam]

Their women's team was a powerhouse. But we all know women's sports are a joke. In women's football China was a powerhouse and Japan is the current world champions lol. As for China men's volleyball team, they were never successful on the world stage. You might confuse China with Japan who won men's volleyball titles at the Olympics and World Championship (They have declined a lot, though).

You are probably right about my confusion. But anyway China has never really been able to produce a team sport in the same level they do with individual sports like diving.