It takes a strong heart and relentless optimism to be a Chinese soccer fan. The joy of rare victory is fleeting, and you have to prepare yourself for the disappointment that always follows shortly behind. Whenever Chinese soccer, especially the national men's team, is brought up in a TV program, it's always the butt of a joke about its mediocre-at-best, calamitous-at-worst performance. 

Just days after many fans cheered for the men's team advancing into the final phase of World Cup qualifying in Asia, they are now anxious as the draw for the final round pits China against Iran, South Korea and Qatar. None of these are soccer superpowers, but judging by their record against China in the past they might as well be Brazil. "I don't expect the Chinese team to win. I just hope they can show respect for sportsmanship," commented a Chinese fan.

China's soccer has failed to match the country's phenomenal economic growth. The men's team is ranked 81st worldwide, and its only brief spotlight on the international stage was at the 2002 World Cup hosted by neighbors South Korea and Japan. Plagued with match-fixing and corruption scandals, China's soccer has seen little improvement despite huge amounts of effort.

But now the government has weighed in, under pressure from soccer fan and Chinese President Xi Jinping. An ambitious blueprint unveiled Monday by the National Development and Reform Commission aims to turn the national soccer team into a top-class outfit by 2050. It maps out short, mid and long-term plans to reach the goal and aims to get more than 50 million people play soccer regularly by 2020, 20,000 schools specializing in soccer and more soccer professionals. The governments are required to create one pitch for every 10,000 people by 2030, tough work given the sparse land left in cities.

The specific targets and comprehensive plan appear to have spirited up investors since government support of soccer means plentiful of opportunities for start-up business and investment. But ordinary Chinese are unconvinced that China's soccer team can challenge the top global teams three decades from now. In an online survey, nearly 90 percent of those who answered didn't believe that the Chinese team would be anywhere near the top of global soccer by 2050. Thousands of netizens questioned and scoffed at the feasibility of the latest plan on social media.

Their disbelief is not unreasonable. Current soccer powers like Brazil, Spain and Argentina never adopted a top-down approach to developing soccer, but have an ardent love for the sport and well-developed mechanisms to foster players. In the meantime, many in the soccer industry are keener on fast profits than skillful players and its development has been mixed, with excessive administration and inadequate supervision. Many policy measures and plans have failed to turn grand ambitions into realities on the pitch.

However, there is still a bright side of the latest blueprint. The soccer industry can expect a big inflow of social capitals and more praise from the authorities. Avid love for soccer may be gradually nourished and talented players given the opportunity to shine. After all, things turn out well more often than not in China - as long as they have government support.

The author is a Global Times reporter. sunxiaobo@globaltimes.com.cn