Getty / B/R mock-up

China are currently ranked 82nd in the FIFA World Rankings, below the likes of Haiti and Uganda.

Not great for a country with a population of over 1.3 billion people.

When you are so far behind the best teams in the world, there is no overnight fix, but China do have a long-term plan to get back to the top table.

The country has just released a "football reform plan," and the president of the country, Xi Jinping, says that China should start training babies straightaway to try and make them the World Cup stars of the future.

As per the BBC:

The government has approved the country's "football reform plan", and says being good at football is the "ardent wish of the whole nation". In its summary of the reform plan, state news agency Xinhua said: "Grasp the development opportunity as babies."

China have only ever qualified for one World Cup, back in 2002, where they lost all their games, scored no goals and conceded nine.

They did at least manage to get out of their group at the recent Asian Cup before losing to eventual winners and hosts Australia 2-0 in the quarter-finals.

[BBC]