Along with the ascent to power of Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2012 is the growing interest of residents of China in soccer. The push came from no less than the president who is an avid fan of the sport.

As part of meeting Xi's three personal ambitions for China to qualify for the World Cup, host the event and win the title, more efforts have been put in place to bring the sport loved by millions into the consciousness of the Chinese, especially the youth.

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First is making soccer a compulsory part of the national curriculum. Second is the opening by 2017 of 20,000 soccer-themed schools with the aim of producing over 100,000 soccer players. Finally, in 2016, China plans to bring in the country 35 international soccer stars, reports Washington Post.

However, while economically, China is a powerhouse with its $10.9 trillion projected GDP in 2015 - second to the U.S. with a forecast GDP of $18.4 trillion for the same year - its ranking in men's soccer is 82^nd.

That 82^nd spot is an improvement from the 97^th place in 2014, behind the tiny Caribbean nation of Antigua and Barbuda and Faroe Islands in northern Europe.

What could hamper China's ambition to become a global power in the sport is its inverted pyramid model in making soccer a popular sport, while it actually needs innovation and creativity, wrote Washington Post.

While Beijing has funds to hire foreign coaches and trainers because of China's economic progress, what national leaders need to figure out is how to sustain that growth since the Asian giant has shown signs of slowdown for the next few months, the daily added.

Xu Guoqi, a historian at the University of Hong Kong, explains what's wrong with the slower growth of sports in China vis-à-vis economic development. "For decades, Chinese interest in sports as a whole has not been about personal joy or pleasure but about politics. It's seen as a path to ruling legitimacy, geopolitical standing, projection of power."

TagsSoccer