Taiwan’s Football Movement Begins Now, From the Grassroots

World Cup fever is taking over and Taiwan has gone soccer crazy, football mad. It may be the world’s most popular sport; however, this level of hype in Taiwan is a rarity. And while the nation of baseball and basketball indulges in its brief love affair, football evangelists aim to capitalize.

Soccer stars Tim Chow and Xavier Chen, who played professionally for Ross County FC and KV Mechelen respectively, say that Taiwan’s football movement starts now from the grassroots. Chow was born an Everton season ticket holder, and Chen joined the Anderlecht youth academy at just eight years old. Despite growing up in a different continent, both players have represented Team Chinese Taipei on the pitch, and they share big ambitions for Taiwanese football.

(Photo courtesy of EVA Air)

I interviewed Tim Chow and Xavier Chen while they were visiting the EVA Air head office in Taoyuan to promote grassroots soccer, as well as a new documentary about the life and career of Xavier Chen, which is coming out soon.

Interview with Tim Chow and Xavier Chen

If Taiwan wants to compete with the world’s top footballing nations, what does it need to do right now?

“From what I’ve seen, I think that (competitiveness) is the biggest difference between European football and football here,” says Chow. “It’s that winning mentality. Football is a competitive sport and we play to win. It starts from the grassroots, and there needs to be a proper plan in place, or a pathway, all the way from grassroots to playing professionally. You start that winning mentality when they are just children.”

“You learn this at the beginning, from a very young age in professional football and the youth academy,” says Chen. “The competition between the players at just seven or eight years old—it has started already. If you want to succeed then you have to be very tough. It is very hard work; you see how many players start to play football at the age of seven or eight, and how many become football players. I think the percentage is really low.”

FIFA says that the earliest form of football (Cuju) was invented in 3rd century BC, in the place we now know as China. From your experience, does Chinese culture go hand-in-hand with football?

“I think, especially here in Taiwan, the focus on [academic] education is the most important thing,” says Chow. “And to be a professional footballer, or a sports star of any kind, is a little bit frowned upon. So, I’m not quite sure whether Chinese culture and being a professional footballer would go hand-in-hand. If in Chinese culture, we can adapt the same mindset that we have for education towards sports, then I’m sure they would be first class.”

“It is really exciting as well because of the fact that football is not really developed here in Taiwan,” says Chen. “Being at the start of everything, it is really exciting to still have the margin to build your own football culture. For example, in Europe football has been played for centuries, so it is really hard to change people’s mentality, but in Taiwan you have the chance to start from the beginning.”

If you were faced with a twelve-year-old Taiwanese kid who wanted to be a professional footballer, what would be your advice to them?

“It is a tough choice to make, but they don’t have to make it at that early an age,” says Chen. “I think if you want to succeed in becoming a professional footballer, you have to give yourself every chance to reach that level.”

(Photo courtesy of the Chinese Taipei Soccer Association)

Credit: Chinese Taipei Football Association

Towards promoting the culture of football in Taiwan

The wheels of Taiwan’s football movement are picking up momentum. There has been a spike in interest around football in Taiwan, because of the World Cup. In the past week, an article about the typeface design on the World Cup teams’ football kits went viral, re-published in popular magazines such as Shopping Design and La Vie.

Taiwan News reports that Taiwanese manufacturers are responsible for making some of the top World Cup teams’ apparel, including boots, shirts, and socks. Taiwanese sports textile OEM and ODM companies are on the cutting edge of manufacturing, but while Taiwan has the technology, the culture of football is another matter.

Perhaps the reason for why football is the world’s most popular sport is the fact that it can be played almost anywhere – on the beach, in the park, and in the streets. Space is an issue, especially in Taipei, but football is scalable. Five-a-side football, for example, played on indoor basketball courts, is booming in popularity, especially among female footballers. And, more hope is on the horizon thanks to the riverside parks in Taipei, which have been under development for the past decade in order to repurpose the flood plains for recreational activities.

If Taiwan wants to build on its emerging culture of football, then it needs to do things its own way and build on its own strengths at a grassroots level—on the basketball courts and in the riverside parks. “You have so much space for baseball and so much space for basketball,” says Chow. “Space is not the problem—I think we can find a way.”

(Photo courtesy of EVA Air)

(Feature image courtesy of the Chinese Taipei Football Association)