The Status Quo of Campus Football Development in China
Jinjing Ma
Football is regarded as the most popular sport in the world, according to a survey conducted by FIFA(Federation Internationale de Football Association), there are now 265 million footballers(male and female) worldwide, and 270 million people are actively involved in football if referees and officials are included. But in China, we are facing a continuing plight in football industry even if we have become the second largest economy in this planet. These significant results from the survey also shows that the football population in China, including officials, referees, fans and trained kids, had reached over 26 million in 2011, ranking No.1 of the 207 member associations worldwide. Meanwhile, the statistics also say that the Chinese professional players are fewer than expected, only 8,000 footballers have registered in CFA(China Football Association), it is odd to see such a big contrast which makes me wonder what is the main factor leaving the gap between a popular sport and a professional industry. And after a thorough and deep study, it turns out that the missing link of the whole system we have been looking for is campus football. Although some progress in this area has been witnessed in recent years, campus football still remains on the under-developed stage here in our nation which directly causes the lack of backup talents. From my own perspective, there are three “imbalances” influencing campus football development in China.
To begin with, the first imbalance is that the support towards campus football in primary school and college stage is much more than middle school and high school....