FIFA President Gianni Infantino and Acting President of the Chinese Football Association (CFA) Du Zhaocai met at the Home of FIFA this Wednesday (24 April 2019) and signed a Memorandum of Understanding between the two entities, the main objective of which is to harness the development potential of football in China PR over the course of the upcoming years.

"It must be a priority of FIFA to ensure that the world’s most popular game keeps growing and developing in the world’s most populous country. Chinese football has been making strides for a long time now, and we are sure that, with this agreement, FIFA is in the position to provide a very tailored assistance for the game to evolve even further in China," Infantino said.

The Memorandum of Understanding crystallises FIFA’s and the CFA’s willingness to work together to enhance football structures, management and technical aspects related to football in China. For that, the agreement focuses on five key areas of collaboration: governance structure of the CFA, technical development at all levels, refereeing, professionalisation of football and event management.

The signing of the agreement concluded a day of operational meetings involving staff members of FIFA and the CFA, who engaged in sessions of knowledge exchange covering different areas such as technical development, media and public relations, governance and human resources.

"As a big nation committed to the development of world football, China is willing to make its contributions while being integrated into the international football family. We look forward to receiving the continuous support from FIFA for our football development, which will further promote the development of the game worldwide," concluded Acting President Du Zhaocai.

(edit：裴超)