Hitting the net with grassroots gains

Shanghai SIPG's historic Chinese Super League triumph and the increasing number of players and referees in the city are all testament to the municipality's success in building a vibrant soccer scene, according to the Shanghai Football Association (SFA).

At the SFA's Leadership Conference on Dec 28, officials revealed that the city had 5,804 registered amateur youth players in 2018, up over 400 from the previous year, while the number of registered professional training bases grew from 119 to 126.

There was an increase in the number of competitive matches as well, with 37,866 players from 2,382 teams taking part in 105 tournaments throughout the year.