Summary:

I am proud that China is a growing country with the world’s 2nd highest GDP; but when it comes to soccer, China is way below other countries. Chinese people love soccer, but for most of us, our love is only expressed by watching others skilled players; only a small proportion actively take part in the sport, and even fewer make it a career.

For example, according to a FIFA publication written by Matthias Kunz, Germany has over 6.3 million registered soccer players, and our neighbor Japan has over 600,000 but China only has 6,000 officially registered. When talking about soccer, Chinese people always laugh at ourselves, “The world’s eighth wonder: why is it that our best eleven players, chosen from 1.5 billion people, cannot even compete with others?” It doesn’t make sense based on statistics. Why is soccer like that in China?

I believe I have part of the answer from my past experiences, and hope I can help the reader gain perspective on this matter from the story I tell in this autobiographical reflection.