China has seen its economy taking off and national strength growing. Now it wants to improve its status in the world of "Beautiful Game".
With the men's national team lingering around 80th in the world rankings and women's side struggling to recover past glory, China is determined to give the sport a change-over, unveiling an overall reform plan this week.
In the meantime, Brazil, known as the "Soccer Kingdom", is carrying out a soccer reform to avoid a repeat of humiliations like five-time champion's 7-1 defeat to Germany at last year's World Cup. The plan put more emphasis on professional leagues and developing young talents.
Twenty-one years after turning professional, Chinese soccer has no obvious improvement, having been troubled with corruption and match-fixing in the league.
The Chinese men's team, now ranked 83rd, qualified only once for the World Cup finals while the women's side is struggling to recreate their glory as the 1999 World Cup runner-up even failed to qualify for the 2011 edition.
In the wake of a wide crackdown on corruption and match-fixing, Chinese soccer has been clawing its way back, witnessing league champion Guangzhou Evergrande clinch China's first ever Asian Champions League title in 2013 and the men's national team reach the Asian Cup quarter-finals early this year.
The overall soccer plan was passed by China's central reform group chaired by President Xi Jinping, who is an avid soccer fan.
China's soccer reform is different from Brazil's.
The world's most popular game is set to be added into the compulsory curriculum in elementary and middle schools across China in a bid to foster interest and increase soccer population.
In Brazil, the love for soccer is innate.
"Usually the first gift given to a boy by his father is a soccer ball. I think that explains how soccer culture is deeply rooted in Brazil," said Ricardo Cappelli, an official from Brazilian Sports Ministry who is responsible for school sports.
Although soccer is just one of courses in physical education, Brazilian children choose soccer over other sports. That might explain why Brazil has always been a breeding ground for soccer stars.
Brazilian football federation announced after the World Cup it would invest 100 million U.S. dollars to build 15 training centers to develop the nation's elite youngsters. At the same time, the federation also unveiled plans for inaugural under-20 national league as part of an overhaul of the country's youth structure.
In China, drawing more children into playing soccer will be a priority. Soccer leagues in elementary, middle and high schools as well as universities are mentioned in the plan. The plan also encourages clubs and enterprises to fund young athletes training abroad.
Agnello Goncalves, general technical coordinator from Brazil's club Corinthians, warned that in youth soccer, the regular pattern of development should be followed to avoid quick success.
Unlike Brazil which has a deep-rooted soccer culture, China still needs to "improve the environment and atmosphere" of the sport, said Goncalves.
For example, the names and locations of Chinese clubs have changed from time to time due to the change of sponsors.
"The change of name and place of clubs is unimaginable. Even though nowadays Brazil's economy is in a downturn and the sponsor of Brazilian clubs changes frequently, the name of the club will never change. Without the consistent support of local fans, a team cannot be rooted in one place," said Alexandre Ferreira from the marketing department of Corinthians.
Fernando Segura Trejo, a soccer sociologist associated to the Getulio Vargas Fondation in Rio de Janeiro, said that compared with Brazilian and European soccer world, Chinese soccer is a new market.
"Most of Brazilian clubs were established between the end of 19th century and the early 20th century. At that time there was no sponsor concept. Most of clubs were named after the place's name or its related history. But in China the sponsor still have a huge influence towards the club's name," he said.
Besides the soccer atmosphere, soccer field is hardly available among high buildings and mansions in China, while in Brazil, pitches can be easily found in public parks, soccer clubs or even favelas. With one of the long-term goals to increase the soccer participation, soccer field is one of the necessary requirements.
