What They're Saying: Historian Xu Guoqi

• by Soccer America , Feb 22, 2015

“It would mean leadership, legacy. Xi is an ambitious man. If he pulls this off, he would be the hero of China.”

-- University of Hong Kong historian Xu Guoqi on Chinese president Xi Jinping, who is attempting to end China's miserable soccer record (just one appearance in the World Cup) by, among other things, making soccer a compulsory part of the national curriculum, turning 20,000 existing elementary, middle and high schools into soccer-themed schools by 2017 and instituting study-abroad programs. (Washington Post)