CHINA’S soccer authorities are planning for the country to have 50,000 soccer academies by 2025 as part of an ambitious blueprint to grow into a soccer superpower.

    The announcement from Wang Dengfeng, vice president of the Chinese Football Association, more than doubles the earlier target of 20,000 academies by 2020.

    Wang was quoted by state media yesterday as saying that each school would be able to train 1,000 young players on average, fulfilling the goal laid out in a plan announced last April of having 50 million competent players.

    “This is a solid way to select soccer talent for our future reserves. Improving Chinese soccer is no longer just a dream,” Wang was quoted as saying on the website of the People’s Daily.

    China last year signed Brazil’s World Cup-winning manager Marcello Lippi to take over the national men’s team. The government has also ordered the creation of 70,000 soccer fields to fill gaps in its youth program.

    Teams in China’s professional leagues, meanwhile, have recruited international stars such as Alex Teixeira and Jackson Martinez on highly paid contracts, raising concerns that they are neglecting home-grown talent.

    In response, China’s soccer authorities last month said they planned a series of measures in response to “irrational” spending by clubs.

    (SD-Agencies)