Zheng Zihao, 9, has been leading his team to play in the urban five-a-side football match in Zhengzhou, capital of central China's Henan Province. As a big fan of Lionel Messi of Argentina, Zheng recently turned his sadness caused by his idol's departure at the 2018 FIFA World Cup into the vigor he contributed along with teammates on the pitch.

The team led by the young boy is a strong one that won the championship at the latest Henan Provincial Youth Training League Cup this year. Now serving as captain at a team full of under-11 youngsters at a Shanghai-based youth training center, Zheng is one of the many who started their football training as early as in elementary schools.

China's education system has involved the football development as part of the school reform. Statistics show the Ministry of Education has ratified a total of 20,218 schools across the country as National Youth Football Campus since 2015. China has invested 680 million yuan (102.3 million US dollars) in the national football project, which has so far generated 50,000 newly-constructed stadiums. The project also has included training for over 20,000 national-level football teachers and 5,000 coaches and benefited another 200,000 trainers from different provinces and cities.

Meanwhile, public schools have directly hired around 360 overseas football coaches to conduct teaching on campus. Over 60 percent of such schools have organized students' football matches at least once a year during the past three years. A variety of leveled football matches covering the nation's elementary schools, middle schools, high schools, and universities have included 10.04 million students. Moreover, a total of 15,564 students have attended summer or winter football camps during the past three years. 

The latest week-long football match is China (Shanghai) International Youth Football Tournament, which kicked off on July 3. This year, it has ten Under-12 teams across the globe, including players from Spain, Japan and Republic of Korea competing with China's U12 teams for the top trophy. The municipal government in Shanghai has been running the competition for seven years and has continued to build it as a long-term talent pool to foster young players and promote the world's most popular sport among youths.