In fact, some local governments are already competing with one another to make their own ambitious plans for the development of soccer. Hubei province, for instance, reportedly plans to establish 550 to 650 soccer schools in the next three years, while Beijing could build up to 200 such schools. Jiangsu province, even more ambitiously, plans to establish 1,000 such schools in five years. And media reports say that about 50,000 such schools could be established across the country by 2025.

China may have the world's largest number of soccer fans, but the number of its professional soccer players is small. It has less than 30,000 registered teenage soccer players, while the number in Tokyo alone is more than 60,000. This lack of professional players makes it difficult for China to build a strong national team.

In this regard, promoting soccer on campus is a welcome move, for it will cultivate a large reserve of good players. But the measures taken for the purpose should be based on the concrete conditions in different regions, because any extreme measure would be a deviation from the original intention of making sports part of people's everyday life so that they can stay physically fit.

Therefore, there is no logic in Shandong province declaring that it will stop the inter-university basketball and volleyball leagues to focus on developing soccer. Nor is there any logic in some education officials' plan to add some bonus points to the college entrance examination scores of students who excel in soccer.

It is a matter of concern that despite being a sports power, China has fared poorly in soccer. But there is no shortcut to success in soccer, or any other field for that matter. Only with patience, perseverance and hard work can the fate of Chinese soccer be changed.

The author is a senior writer of China Daily.