Faces of the students of Sanshiba primary school’s football club, one of Chinese Taipei’s most famous.

The players gathered for practice. Its tough just getting a team of 11 players together (there are currently 9 players).

　　Chinese Taipei’s capital, Taipei. Early April. Afternoon. Rain.

“Practice is cancelled due to rain?” asks the first ever foreign National team coach, former Yugoslavia-born Dragan holding his head in his hands and sinking into a couch in the football association’s office.
　 The real reason is that most of the team are university students and have lectures, exams, and social work so obviously can’t attend training. In Chinese Taipei, where all of the players are amateur, it’s not always easy to make trainings for the national team go to schedule.
“The football here is ZE.RO.” says Dragan who has had to start trainings from the very basics such as tackling.
　 Chinese Taipei students take football as an extra-curricular subject. But due to academic concerns parents, especially mothers, don’t want their children immersed in football, and encourage them to study instead. The football association’s executive secretary, Zhang Zhannan says “This is the biggest obstruction to football’s development here.”
　 Originally baseball was so popular in Chinese Taipei that pictures of baseball player’s triumphs would be printed on to the Chinese Taipei currency. More than football, which can be played by a large number of people with just one ball, basketball, easily played in a small area, is becoming popular.
　 To improve football’s status the Chinese Taipei football association is approaching the government and going through the education department to promote football in schools. The current head of the football association and the Chinese Taipei President are said to have personal connections. However, the troop club who used to play in the Chinese Taipei league was asked to withdraw by that very same President.

Chinese Taipei football is waiting for the government to start raining money.