Training sessions

Jingchuan Wenhui will also conduct training sessions and other activities to promote soccer, with support from the Pingliang sports bureau, Mu said. Together with the local education department, the bureau will encourage the club to stage public activities aimed at promoting soccer in primary and secondary schools.

In recent years, the authorities in Pingliang have enthusiastically supported the development of soccer, including setting up fields and staging campus leagues. Each year, up to a dozen schools in the city include soccer among their sports activities.

Training for soccer coaches and referees has also been strengthened in Pingliang, which now has more than 50 qualified coaches and over 140 registered referees.

Mu said, "We are gradually supplying one professional soccer teacher for each school where the sport is played. "With support from government institutions in Jingchuan and Pingliang, the Jingchuan Football Association organized Pingliang's first "super league" in 2019, which comprised eight teams. The following year, 12 teams competed in this league.

Wang, the association's president, said, "To promote the overall development of soccer in Jingchuan and Pingliang, we chose different areas in which to play the game every weekend."

He said that since it was established in 2017, the association has promoted training for young players.

"We start by cultivating children's interest — mainly helping them with basic soccer skills, as well as teaching them fundamental tactical knowledge about the game," Wang said.

Gansu, which has no top teams or star players, is rarely mentioned in the world of soccer, but the province made headlines in 2003, when local club Gansu Tianma signed former England midfielder Paul Gascoigne.

With support from education, sports and other departments, conditions for soccer in Gansu have gradually improved in recent years.

In Lanzhou, the provincial capital, numerous primary and secondary schools conduct regular training sessions and compete in matches.

At Zhonglianchuan Primary School, located at an altitude of 2,300 meters in Yuzhong county, dozens of potential players have been selected by professional training organizations, and schools and clubs in China and overseas.

Zhang Xin, secretary-general of the Gansu Football Association, said: "Soccer is not a sport solely for those living in developed areas with good economic conditions. It is a mass sport with wide participation among people living in urban and rural areas."

However, due to a lack of funds, venues, full-time coaches and teachers, as well as other problems, the development of soccer in remote areas of western China was restricted for a long time, he said.

Zhang added that officials in Gansu are calling for a series of soccer activities to be staged in the province's vast rural areas. Soccer associations and sports departments in counties and county-level cities are being encouraged to conduct these activities.

The province aims to help more villagers, especially young people, play soccer to strengthen the sport's development.

Contact the writers at zhangxiaomin@chinadaily.com.cn