Reporter Wang Wei Zhanjiang reports At 9 o'clock in the morning of January 11, the sports center of Yangkan Town, Suixi County, Zhanjiang, Guangdong Province was full of people and lively, and the opening ceremony of the second village super "A Tangerine Lion" Cup football match in Yangkan Town in 2025 was held here. Nearly 1,000 local villagers witnessed the popularity of Yangkan Village, and football not only drove the development of agriculture, culture and tourism in Yangkan Town, Suixi County, but also made the local people happy.

The bright business card of Suixi, Zhanjiang

Yangkan Town is located in the northwest of Suixi County, Zhanjiang City, Guangdong Province, which is close to Beibu Gulf and across the sea from Beihai City, Guangxi, 46 kilometers west of Suixi County and 460 kilometers away from Guangzhou City. Zhanjiang, Guangdong is the hometown of football, not only cultivating former Chinese women's football international Tan Ruyin and current Chinese women's football core player Chen Qiaozhu, but also Yang Tang Town, Suixi County, has also walked out of the former Chinese women's football captain Chen Xia.

Chen Xia, former captain of the Chinese women's football team

Zhanjiang is located in the southernmost part of the mainland of the motherland, and the Yangkan Village Super League can be said to be the southernmost village football league in the mainland of the motherland. On January 30, 2024, Yangkan Town held the first Football Village Super Competition, with 32 teams composed of the town government, institutions, middle schools, education groups and 28 village committees participating in the competition, with a total of more than 630 players dedicating 64 wonderful games to the audience. On January 11 this year, the second village super league in Yangkan Town arrived as scheduled. The contestants of this year's Yangkan Village Super are all villagers of the town, and there are no foreign contestants. The competition started on January 11, and the finals were staged on the fifth day of the Lunar New Year on February 2, with 32 teams still participating in the competition, with a total of 64 matches.

With a population of 100,000, Yangkan Town has a very good football base. "On the eve of the Spring Festival, I was very happy to see my football league in Yangkan Town, and the villagers had the opportunity to play and experience the fun of football together." Several local villagers in Yangkan Town in the stands said. The villagers told reporters: "I usually grow dragon fruit and sweet potatoes at home, and I will play happy football in groups in my spare time." My town has organized a village super league, which allows ordinary villagers to show their skills on the field. ”

Liu Jian, magistrate of Suixi County, said: "Yangkan Village has become a beautiful business card of the county, vividly showing the new style of vigorous development of rural sports, and setting a model for all towns (streets) in the county." "Pan Guoqing is a villager from Macheng Village, Yangkan Town, who usually works in Macao, and this time he returned to his hometown to participate in the competition." This is my second time participating in the Yangkan Village Super League, we have a great football atmosphere here, the crowd base is very good, and there are a lot of people in my hometown who can play. ”

Liu Jian, magistrate of Suixi County

In the exhibition match on the opening day of the village super, the Nanyue star team and the Yangkan Town Football Association team joined hands to present a wonderful duel for the local villagers, and the two sides finally shook hands 1-1. Chen Yuliang, the head coach of the Nanyue Star Team, was moved by the warm atmosphere of Yangkan Village Super, "Yangkan Village Super allows local people to enjoy happy football at their doorstep, and the strong grassroots football foundation is of great help to the improvement of Chinese football." ”

Thousands of people watched football in empty alleys

Last year's first Yangkan Village Super realized that 10,000 people watched football in empty alleys, and this year's Yangkan Village Super is even more exciting. In fact, as early as the 20th century, the seeds of football were sown in Yangkan Town, Suixi County. At the 1990 Beijing Asian Games, Chen Xia from Yangkan Town, Suixi served as the captain of the women's football team, and she and her teammates won the championship and became the focus of national attention for a while. This year, Chen Xia participated in the opening ceremony of the Yangkan Village Super League again, and felt the changes in the football conditions in her hometown, "When I played football back then, the conditions were still very difficult, and now each of the 28 administrative villages in our town has at least one football field, hoping that hometown football will get better and better, and cultivate more reserve talents for Chinese football." ”

"There are 28 administrative villages in Yangkan Town, each village has at least one football team, and there are more than 180 football players who have gone out from here. It can be said that the football atmosphere in Yangkan Town is very good. Yuan Weiqiang, mayor of Yangkan Town, Suixi County, said. Today, each of the 28 administrative villages in Yangkan Town has at least one football field, and the total number of football fields in the jurisdiction reaches 37. This year's Yangkan Village Super has received strong support from Yangkan Township Sages, and the Suixi County Culture, Radio, Television, Tourism and Sports Bureau has also supported 200,000 yuan.

The slogan of this year's Yangkan Village Super is "Guangdong Village Super, the more exciting", and the Yangkan Village Super in western Guangdong has gradually penetrated into the hearts of the local people. "The purpose of our village super is to use the strong rural football atmosphere in Yangkan Town to promote national fitness and rural football, create a business card of Yangkan football, and radiate rural football to the city, the province and even the whole country. Now we are building a football town, formulating a football development plan for agriculture, cultural tourism + sports + football, and polishing the football business card of Yangkan. Yuan Weiqiang said. Today, Yangkan Town has spent more than 400 yuan to build a sports center around football cultural elements, and a standardized 11-a-side football field has risen from the ground. In addition, it has also established a football commercial street and a children's water park in the football town. By creating a football-themed cultural tourism and sports project, football will drive cultural tourism and feed football with cultural tourism.

Xie Changjing, Chairman of the Guangdong Football Association, Dong Liangtian, former director of the Guangdong Provincial Sports Bureau, and Mai Liang, former deputy director of the Guangdong Provincial Sports Bureau, attended the opening ceremony of this year's Yangkan Village Super League. Xie Changjing said: "In recent years, the Guangdong Football Association has vigorously carried out youth training, improved the competition system, and created a good football atmosphere. Yangkan Town Village Super League is an excellent example of grassroots football development, which provides a platform for football lovers to show themselves and injects new vitality into the development of Guangdong football. ”

Xie Changjing, chairman of the Guangdong Football Association