The CFA confirmed that Wang Jianlin, the chairman of Dalian Wanda, had agreed to fund youth programmes, referee training and foreign coaching, according to the state-run China Daily newspaper. The programme aims to provide high-quality training for up to 100 youngsters per year, the newspaper added.

Chinese football has been in the doldrums for several years following a series of corruption scandals and dismal results on the pitch. Last month, China’s Olympic team lost 4-1 on aggregate to Oman to crash out of qualifying for the 2012 Games in London.

“The progress of Chinese soccer depends on the emergence of high-level young players,” said Wei Di, the head of the CFA. “China's negligence in developing teenage soccer directly led to the slump in the sport in recent years.” Wang funded professional club Dalian Wanda, which won four domestic titles in the 1990s before withdrawing from the league in 1998 amid accusations of match-fixing.

The Dalian Wanda chairman also appeared to set a three-year deadline for change as he spoke of goals to increase the number of youth players in China to more than 700,000 and boost attendances at league games. “If we make these changes in three years, then we can talk about further co-operation, but if there's no change, I think we will be done,” he said.