China unveils women's football reform and development plan

Chinese players celebrate scoring during their group C match against Mexico at the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup in Navi Mumbai, India, on Oct. 12, 2022. (Str/Xinhua)

Bidding for the 2031 women's World Cup is outlined in China's newly-unveiled reform plan for women's football.

BEIJING, Oct. 25 (Xinhua) -- China has unveiled a comprehensive reform and development plan to revive its women's football, outlining project timelines until 2035.

The plan, running from 2022 to 2035, has set three-phase goals to be achieved by 2025, 2030 and 2035 respectively. And the bidding to host the 2031 Women's World Cup is one of the goals set up for the last phase.

The plan was jointly released by China's State General Administration of Sport, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Finance and the Chinese Football Association (CFA) on Monday.

The plan has targeted on seven areas, including a qualified management system, a greatly-improved national team, a youth training and competition system, further development of the sport on campus, a group of fully-cultivated coaches and a larger population of women footballers in the country.

Members of the women's football team of Zhangpan Primary School engage in a training session in Luoyang, central China's Henan province, March 3, 2022. (Xinhua/Hao Yuan)

According to the plan, by 2025, China will steadily improve its women's league system with 50 teams competing in the top three leagues, and 30 youth training centers will be jointly established by CFA and local governments. And its national team is expected to make it into the top eight in both 2023 World Cup and 2024 Olympic Games.

By 2030, the team is targeted to retain its glory as a top-class squad in Asia and a powerhouse in the world, and make it to the last four in both 2027 World Cup and 2028 Olympic Games.

By 2035, China will greatly increase its population of women football, making it a popular sport for women with world-class management of its league competition. The national team is expected to rank in top three in both 2031 World Cup and 2032 Olympic Games.