Shaanxi to have 1,000 soccer featured schools in three years

XI'AN, China, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) -- There will be 1,000 soccer featured schools in northwest China's Shaanxi by 2020, said Dong Li, newly-promoted chairman of the province's football association, on Saturday.

"At that time, we will have over 100,000 students who keep playing football," Dong told the general meeting of Shaanxi Football Association (SFA).

The province will also build four football league systems for the students of the primary schools, junior middle schools, senior middle schools and universities. "We will have over 1,400 student football teams in 2020," Dong said.

Shaanxi had its own professional team, Shaanxi National Power from 1996 to 2005, who grabbed the trophy of China's second division league in 2000. But the team got disqualified from the Chinese Football Association in 2004, and was disbanded in 2005 due to malicious nonpayment of wages.

Dong also encouraged all the cities in Shaanxi to establish their own professional teams as soon as possible to help Shaanxi catch up with and even surpass the Chinese provincial football powerhouses. Enditem