The Chinese are certainly doing things by the book when it comes to their bid for world football domination.

The most populous nation on the planet is in the process of producing a series of textbooks for children aimed at teaching them how to play the beautiful game.

Football-mad president Xi Jinping has already made the sport a compulsory part of the national curriculum for schoolchildren, with the aim of turning his country into a football powerhouse.

Xi Jinping kicks a football during a 2012 visit to Croke Park in Dublin, Ireland, when he was China's vice president. The football-mad leader wants to make set his country on the road to being world champions

Thirty football 'experts' are involved in the drafting of the books, including 'football education specialists'

Young players, teachers and coaches will be able to access online football tutorials linked to the books

'We paid particular attention on gender ratio when we did the 3D pictures for the textbooks because we didn't want to let male players dominate the books', says the man in charge of their creation Chen Keqi

Xi Jinping has been a football fan since he played for his school team and is said to be very keen to see his country climb the world rankings

And now China's young players will hopefully have everything they need to become future World Cup winners thanks to the new tools at their disposal.

According to the Chinese People's Daily, the first series of football textbooks for students in primary and secondary school will be completed at the end of this month by the People's Education Press (PEP).

Chen Keqi, director of the Sports Office at the PEP, says 30 football 'experts' are involved in the drafting of the books, including 'football education specialists' and primary and secondary school PE teachers.

The texts feature tips on individual skills such as ball striking, dribbling and passing, but also place great stress on teamwork in order to 'cultivate students' will and character'.

Mr Keqi said, 'Given the nature of this sport, the textbooks will highlight students' awareness of teamwork and cooperation.

It is hoped the 3D young footballers will encourage China's budding players to become world beaters

Pupils will be taught basic skills including 'balancing on a ball' and doing 'keepy-uppy' with their insteps

'It will aim to cultivate their hard-working and optimistic spirit. All that reflects the educational value of football.

'We aim to improve students’ overall ability and make them well-developed both in mind and body.

'Students’ awareness of duty and responsibility can be raised in this process of learning.'

The textbooks will aim to cultivate students' hard-working and optimistic spirit

'Any type of education must take building people’s characters and passing knowledge on to students into account, and PE education is no exception.'

There are seven volumes of textbooks, four of which will be for primary, middle school and first year high school students, while the remaining three are teaching guides for primary and secondary school coaches.

Pupils from primary grades 3-4 will be taught basic skills including 'balancing on a ball' and doing 'keepy-uppy' with their insteps, while students from secondary grades 5-6 will be learning some more 'complex' skills such as keeping a ball in the air using different parts of their feet.

The books feature 3D pictures to help teach positional play and develop 'attacking strategy'.

China's men's team. For a country of 1.37billion people their ranking of 82 does not sit well with Chinese fans

China's men take on Uruguay at the Wuhan Sports Center Stadium in October 2010. President Xi wants the country to qualify for a World Cup again, like they did in 2002, and eventually win the competition

They also have green QR codes which readers can scan with their mobile phones to access online football tutorial videos.

Mr Keqi said: '3D technology brought football skills to life and graphics can be easily understood by students.

'We paid particular attention on gender ratio when we did the 3D pictures for the textbooks because we didn't want to let male players dominate the books.

'In addition to publishing paper textbooks, we will introduce CD and online video tutorials to help teachers learn more about the sport.

'We will organise some training if possible to ensure teachers are best able to use the set of textbooks.'

Prince William meets Mr Xi at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing earlier this month. The Aston Villa fan mentioned the Chinese president's love of football during their talk

Mr Xi is a massive fan of the beautiful game and he and many of his 1.37billion countryman are said to be ashamed at the lowly number 82 ranking of the Chinese men's national team.

He dreams his country will again qualify for a World Cup – they last did so in 2002 but went out after failing to score – will have the opportunity to host the tournament and, most optimistically, will one day win it.

At least China's women's team has a much better chance of doing that any time soon as they are currently ranked a much more respectable 13th in the world.

On his recent visit to China Prince William bonded with Mr Xi over their mutual love of the round ball game.