KICKING IT: China Football Association is teaming up with Ghana Football Association so both parties can develop their skills

Football is not only a business venture which generates huge sums of dollars to clubs and players all over the world, but also a tool of national pride and identity.

Many international football icons such as Didier Drogba of Cote d'lvoire, Michael Essien of Ghana and Nicholas Anelka of France have not only become football ambassadors for their nations, but have also put their nations on the world map. That is why many countries are leaving no stone unturned in upgrading the game. One of these countries is China.

China Football Association (CFA), formed in 1924, signed a deal with the Ghana Football Association on August 14, 2012 to develop their football. According to the President of the Ghana Football Association Kwesi Nyantakyi, Ghana will help China to develop youth football while China will assist Ghana to develop the women's game.

Nyantakyi said the Chinese have a good pedigree in women's football and they have been world champions before, while Ghana has a comparative advantage in youth football.

"Beyond that we will be looking at exchange programs for coaches, referees and administrators for both countries," he told a press conference in Accra.

Communications Director of the Ghana Football Association Ibrahim Sannie Daara told ChinAfrica Ghana will be sending some experienced young and some retired footballers to China to train with the Chinese young players.

Daara said that since Chinese referees were more experienced than Ghanaian referees, Ghanaian referees would be traveling to China for training.

The dates for training would be finalized at the next meeting between the two football associations.

Reasons for failure

The people of China love the game of football but have been regularly disappointed by their men's team and handlers of the game. It's estimated that about 3.5 million out of about 600 million Chinese football fans regularly attend matches at local stadia.

Professor Xu Guoqi of East Asian Studies at Kalamazoo College once stated in the Washington Post, "The real metric by which China judges itself against the rest of the world isn't the discuss or the decathlon. It's not even our record-breaking economic growth or its modern skylines. It's football." This clearly underscores the premium that the people of China place on their football.

The Chinese national team used to perform well in the 1920s and 1930s especially in Asia. So one cannot hesitate but ask why they have performed abysmally in the international arena for the past three decades.