Players compete at a provincial beach soccer game in Zhujiajian scenic spot, Zhoushan. [Photo/IC]

The Chinese Football Association recently approved the establishment of the Beach Football Research Center in Zhoushan, East China's Zhejiang province, local media reported.

Jointly built by the Zhoushan Football Association and Zhejiang Ocean University, the center will be the first national sports research center in Zhoushan.

The CFA's approval affirms the city's 20-year exploration of beach soccer and will also give a boost to the integration of tourism and sports industries in Zhoushan, said an official from the Zhoushan municipal bureau of culture, radio, television, tourism and sports.

Beach soccer in Zhoushan is nationally renowned. As early as 2000, the city organized the sports event at the second Zhoushan International Sand Sculpture Festival.

Since then, Zhoushan has held provincial and regional beach soccer invitational tournaments. It has also won the right to host the National Beach Soccer Championships for 12 years in a row since 2008.

In 2020, the Zhoushan team won the national competition.

The Federation Internationale de Football Association holds the World Cup for beach soccer each year and it is also trying to get beach soccer included as an Olympic event.