Lack of fields penalizes soccer's grassroots growth

Despite China's bold ambition to develop soccer at the grassroots, the lack of soccer fields has hampered public participation, said a national survey on sporting venues.

The General Administration of Sport of China released the results of the sixth national survey on sporting venues and facilities on Thursday, which showed a significant increase of new sporting infrastructure during the past decade.

China had built more than 1.69 million sporting venues covering more than 3.9 billion square meters by the end of 2013, double the number of the venues in 2003. The per capita venue area increased to 1.46 sq m in 2013, up almost 42 percent from the figure in 2003.