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A football reform plan was unveiled on Monday as China determines to boost the development of the game in the country.

A football reform plan was unveiled on Monday as China determines to boost the development of the game in the country.

The overall reform involves almost every aspect of the sport, including professional clubs, professional leagues, national teams and grassroots football.

A series of goals are set in the new plan that include the women's team returning to the world top class as a mid-term goal and the men's team joining the world leading powers in the long run.

Bidding to host the World Cup is also listed as a long-term goal.

A statement was issued by the central reform leading group last Friday and said that China must overcome its "defective system", which has impeded the development of the sport, and provide better "institutional guarantees" for its development.

Furthermore, the reform plan emphasizes that local governments in China should promote the popularization of campus football.

Middle schools and primary schools should add football-related items to their PE content under the plan.

According to the plan, China will expand the number of football fields, and will mull more construction plans in the next few years.

The plan also proposes earlier identification of talent, along with the integration of professional clubs, school teams and amateurs.

Last November, the Ministry of Education made football a compulsory part of physical education, and promised to help set up more football academies.

The development of China's football game has long been a national concern, especially since Chinese President Xi Jinping, who is also a football fan, took office in 2012. He has made a number of public comments related to Chinese football to express his support, and has high hopes for the national team.

During his visit to Germany in 2014, President Xi Jinping watched a football game between Chinese kids and their German peers, encouraging more Chinese young people to play the sport.

"I have confidence in you, in your generation," Xi told the Chinese players at the halftime break of a friendship match with local kids from the Wolfsburg club.

"I hope you will become outstanding football players in the future," said Xi.

The Chinese president encouraged the Chinese players to, through their current training in Germany, set an example for other young players in China.

He added that he hoped more Chinese young people would devote themselves to football.

The Chinese team played a fierce game at the Olympic Stadium of Berlin while Xi and his wife Peng Liyuan, along with some high-ranking Chinese officials, sat on the bleachers.

The 20 Chinese kids, all of them from Zhidan county in China's northwestern province of Shaanxi, are being trained in Berlin by their German coaches.

In the last year's "two sessions", President Xi Jinping used Chinese football as an example of pursuing dreams when he joined a panel discussion with deputies from Shanghai.

He said China's football dream may look far away, but in the end, it cannot be stopped.

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