This Day, That Year

This year marks the 70th anniversary of the founding of New China.

Editor’s note:

On Feb 12, 1954, Hungary’s national soccer team arrived in China, the first international team to visit. The Magical Magyars, as they were called, stayed in the country until March 13. The team finished runners-up in the 1954 World Cup, a tournament they had been hotly tipped to win.

Shortly after the visit, China sent a youth soccer delegation of 15 players to learn soccer skills in Hungary.

In 1978, Inter Milan visited China and played the Chinese national team, showcasing European soccer skills and the game’s culture to Chinese fans.

Since then, top soccer clubs have been frequent visitors to China to play in preseason friendly matches.

An item on Aug 1, 2003, from China Daily showed Real Madrid’s Zinedine Zidane (left), Raul Gonzalez (center) and David Beckham holding jerseys with their names in Chinese during a news conference in Kunming, Yunnan province.

The Spanish champions were on a two-week Asian tour. They have visited China four times, in 2003, 2005, 2005 and 2011.

Chinese clubs are also lavishing money to attract foreign coaches and players. Among the star players lured to China was Argentine forward Carlos Tevez, reportedly on a contract worth $880,000 a week at Shanghai Shenhua before he returned home last year.

In December 2016, Shanghai SIPG paid $72 million to sign Brazilian midfielder Oscar from English Premier League side Chelsea.

Plans are reportedly under way to introduce a salary cap to the Chinese Super League as authorities strive to improve its financial health.

Meanwhile, authorities are building soccer infrastructure and encour- aging the nation’s youth to take up the game.

By 2020, authorities plan to build 20,000 specialist soccer schools and 70,000 pitches, and between 30 million and 50 million schoolchildren will be regularly playing the game.