This Day, That Year

Item from Aug 16, 1985, in China Daily: First goal - young hopefuls take a shot at the Beijing Children's Soccer School, where all the students are younger than 6.

Although they qualified for the World Cup once in 2002, the national men's soccer team has disappointed fans for decades.

But the country's rise as a soccer power has just begun. China rolled out an ambitious plan to build 20,000 schools specializing in teaching the skills of soccer by 2020 to nurse talent for future success at the World Cup.