As part of a long-term national goal to make China become a superpower in the world of soccer, a Chinese university has opened a soccer college complete with a four-year curriculum aimed at producing topnotch soccer players for the country.

Guangzhou University, reports Nanfang Daily, has kicked off a four-year programme for high school graduates. While details regarding the curriculum hasn’t been finalized and decided as of now, executive dean Zhou Yi says that it is under constant development, and is expecting to have about 100 to 150 students under it when it starts in September.

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Aside from students, the soccer college also aims to train coaches and referees for schools. The soccer college hopes to do this via an agreement with the Guangzhou soccer club, which agreed to share its coaches and referees. The soccer club will also help the school promote the sport among China’s teens.

Chinese President Xi: A Goalkeeper

Chinese President Xi Jinping, who is an avid soccer fan since his childhood, openly stated that he wants to turn China into a ‘soccer superpower’ by 2050, reports Time. He reportedly wants to lift up the current state of the Chinese men’s soccer, which in comparison to the China’s women’s soccer team is lagging behind in terms of international success.

Simon Chadwick, Salford University U.K. professor of sports enterprise, says that Xi’s personal proclamations and desire to turn China into a soccer great is what the country needs for it to become a real great in the sport.

“What’s very different now,” Chadwick says, “is that we have President Xi making public proclamations about his love of [soccer] and his ambitions for China.”

Christopher Atkins, a China-based soccer agent, says that in order for China to become a top nation in soccer, it has to develop the playing skills of its players at a young age, and by introducing an improved ‘soccer culture.’

Thus, what Guangzhou University is doing now is that it wants cement Xi’s dream and turn it into a reality.

TagsSoccer, Xi Jinping, Chinese soccer, soccer college