Annual campus soccer campaign opens in N China

Pupils play soccer during the opening ceremony of the annual campus soccer campaign in Hohhot, North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region on March 1. [Photo/imfa.com]

An annual campus soccer campaign was launched in Hohhot, North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region on March 1.

The campaign was organized by a leading group for campus soccer works in Inner Mongolia. Bai Xiangquan, vice-president of Inner Mongolia attended the opening ceremony.

The public welfare campaign, first launched in 2015 is aimed at encouraging more children to play the sport.

It has expanded soccer training in schools as a mandatory physical education class, and includes a series of events like a campus soccer festival, soccer competitions, and class meetings in schools across the region.

The promotion of campus soccer has made steady progress since Inner Mongolia was selected as a national pilot region for soccer reform in 2014.

So far, the region has 984 national soccer schools, 666 regional soccer schools and 293 soccer kindergartens. In addition, four counties were listed as national soccer pilots.

And Hohhot, capital of the region, has 188 national and regional schools, and 26 regional soccer kindergartens, with more than 60,000 people participating in the campus soccer competitions.

A cheerleading competition was also held the same day.