On the evening of April 16, Beijing time, Shanghai Shenhua got off to a good start in the 2023 Chinese Super League (CSL) by beating last season's AFC Cup champion Shandong Taishan 1-0 thanks to a goal from Wu Xi in the first round of the key battles.
In this battle, Shenhua said goodbye to their old home stadium, Hongkou Football Stadium, which had been in use for many years, and transformed Shanghai Stadium (also known as Shanghai 80,000 People Stadium) into their new home stadium. With the home and away stadiums fully restored, Shenhua fans can finally return to the stands and fight alongside the team.
Shenhua's North Stand, waving flags. Photo/Yuan Feijie
Prior to Hongkou Football Stadium, the North Stand had been the position of Shenhua's die-hard fan organization, the Blue Devils, while other Shenhua fan organizations, such as Sapphire, Star, Shengshi, Jixiang, and Iron Rod, waved their flags and cheered from the South Stand.
This time, Shenhua home stadium moved into the Shanghai Stadium, once for their own Shenhua fans north and south stands to achieve unity, concentrated in the Shanghai Stadium north stands cheering, with the Shanghai dialect formed a loud voice of assistance - "Shenhua is Allah faith! Allah stands in the stands! Ternon fights together!"
Video: Shenhua North Stand Cheering. Provided/Shanghai Shenhua Blue Devils Fan Association
"It's so shocking! I didn't realize that the original Chinese fans could create a European style fan atmosphere. Awesome!" Long, a student from Yiyang, Hunan province, who studies at the Shanghai Institute of Physical Education, bought a ticket to watch the game during this campaign. Before that, Long had no experience of watching a major soccer match live. "Shenhua fans were so great, the crowd kept shouting and jumping. It used to be said that the fans were the '12th man'. When I saw the performance of Shenhua fans today, I really understood the meaning."
As a perennial Barcelona fan, Long admits that the level of the Chinese Super League really isn't that high and the pace isn't fast. But when he goes to watch a game live, the fiery atmosphere of the venue can make people get into it. It doesn't matter if the game itself is good or not. "In the future, I will definitely come to support Shanghai Shenhua! In order to revitalize Chinese soccer, everyone should start with themselves, even if they just buy a ticket to watch the game."
Lao Sun (second from left) poses for a photo with his friends. Photo/Yuan Feijie
Shenhua Blue Devils fan Lao Sun also followed his friend and his wife, who is also a Shenhua fan, to the North Stand to watch the game. As one of the earliest fans of the Blue Devils, Lao Sun has long been accustomed to the noisy support of the Blue Devils in the form of chanting, singing and jumping. Although the 2020 to 2022 tournament system kept Shenhua fans away from the stands for a while, all the familiar feelings returned when everyone entered the stadium again. Old Sun said: "Love of soccer has nothing to do with achievements. Whether it's me or other Shenhua fans, we all prefer the process of breathing with Shenhua and sharing the team's destiny, rather than the team's good results. I love Inter Milan in Serie A, but my wife is in the English Premier League.
Finally, Mr. and Mrs. Lao Sun and all Shenhua fans witnessed a good start of the season. The feeling of returning to the stands was very pleasant for Lao Sun and the others. The only regret was that they didn't bring their young son to experience the atmosphere. "The child is going to kindergarten tomorrow, mainly because we were afraid that it would be too late to affect his schooling the next day. We will take our child to experience it later and raise him to be the next generation of Shenhua fans, both home and away." Old Sun said that from the first day he joined the Blue Devils as a Shenhua fan, he has been looking forward to bringing his children to support Shenhua in the future and realizing the legacy of fan culture. On the day of the game, Shenhua fans started because they shared the same idea as Lao Sun.
Fans in the Shenhua North Stand interact with the players after the match. Photo/Yuan Feijie
April 21, 17: Shanghai Shenhua will travel to Guangdong to challenge Meizhou Hakka, China's first Chinese Super League team from a county-level city in Wuhua County, Meizhou City.
For Shenhua fans, Meizhou remains a new away game yet to be unlocked. Although the match date is Friday, many Shenhua fans have booked their away tickets in advance to continue their journey south to keep up with Shanghai Shenhua.
