Experts see player enthusiasm as key

The foundation for Chinese soccer to prosper must be developed at the school level, but experts said that the school curriculum should be expanded based on students' interests, not administrative orders.

A picture taken recently at a primary school in Luoyang, Henan province - showing students doing aerobics-like soccer exercise and holding the ball in their hands instead of dribbling with their feet - caused heated debate about whether soccer promotion at the school was carried out too aggressively and against the game's nature and students' interests.

"It seems they are trying to train hundreds of goalkeepers at the same time. Soccer training shouldn't be taken as a group performance holding a ball. What appears in the picture seems more style than substance," Li Chunman, an Asian Football Confederation-licensed soccer lecturer, said of the controversial workout on Sunday.