BEIJING - China needs a soccer icon to lift the sport's image among youngsters, said Under-19 national team coach Jan Olde Riekerink.

This year has been a disaster for Chinese soccer with men's senior team, Olympic team, Under-19 team and women's team all failing to qualify for the Olympics and World Cups.

"That's is too bad, because for young children they see, like in basketball, Yao Ming is a star," said Riekerink, who worked at "star factory" Ajax, in two stints, for more than a decade. "I think that's the biggest challenge, because young children always need heroes."

Also, a lift in the quality of players, he believes, can only be achieved through a large soccer population.

"I think one of the goals is try to raise the number of players, starting in schools, and also helping coaches so more children will play soccer," Riekerink said. "And from an increased amount of children playing, and proper soccer education, you will get the best national team.

"Then, if the national team grows, there should be heroes, because there are talented players out there.

"It's not a problem if you have the numbers, as the quality of the players will improve."

In contrast to the expectations for the future, the present remains a harsh reality. China has no more than 10,000 registered teenage players, and Riekerink's team, which finished 2-2 in a friendly with the Gabon Under-19 team on Nov 27, comprised players from merely four soccer schools and clubs. Ten of the 18-man squad came from the Shandong Luneng side.

"Not every Super League team has a youth development program," Riekerink said.

"All of our professional teams (in the Netherlands) must have youth education. They all have soccer education from under 12 or under eight, and we have a lot of amateur clubs playing competitions," he said. "We, at Ajax, start at eight, and in every age group we have a team. We have 500,000 children playing soccer (in the Netherlands).

"We are the second in the world, I think the only reason why we survive (at the top level) is our structure of developing the youth, so the best play the best and the best train with the best," Riekerink said. "Also, there is the education, the philosophy of playing, I think those are the two fundamentals (for success)."

China Daily