Yanbian Longding FC head Li Guanghe revealed in the interview, "Our priority is to keep our feet on the ground and steadily push forward with business expansion. When the market springs to life, we naturally look forward to bringing the glory of Yanbian soccer back to the Chinese Super League quickly."
In the long history of Chinese soccer, "South Meixian, North Yanbian" is a good story. Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture, as one of the cradles of China's soccer, since the professionalization of 1994, Yanbian Aodong soccer team's all-attacking and all-defensive tactics, packed stadiums, as well as those who climbed the tree to watch the game because of the tight supply of tickets, "hanging tree fans," have left a deep memory of the national fans.
With the marketization of the professional league and the intensification of competition, Yanbian soccer has also suffered setbacks and was once in the doldrums. However, nowadays, Yanbian Longding Club, adhering to the spirit of Yanbian soccer, has reborn from the fire, and victory after victory has brought the joy of soccer to the border town and provided a stage for the fans to show their own selves.
The national and municipal governments fully support Yanbian Lundin and are committed to fulfilling the people's passion for soccer.
A 20-kilometer drive south of Yanji City, the capital of Yanbian Prefecture, leads to the soccer town of Longjing City on the banks of the Hailan River, where the Yanbian Longding Football Club is based. The U-17 team of Yanbian Longding is training hard at the base, which consists of dozens of natural and artificial grass fields surrounded by mountains on three sides and a lake on the other. The center of the base is equipped with two fully enclosed winter training and match bubble stadiums, and supporting facilities such as fan culture shopping malls are also under orderly construction.
"The soccer town in front of us, which covers nearly 1,000 acres, is still being optimized. We expect to make it a benchmark, not only for Yanbian Longding's professional and echelon teams to train and play here, but we also hope that in the future it will become a place for people and young people to vacation and relax and get in touch with soccer." General Manager Li Guanghe introduced the plan of the soccer town as he walked.
In fact, Yanbian Prefecture, as one of the first cities in China to focus on soccer development during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, has developed a strong soccer atmosphere in schools and communities. Soccer is undoubtedly the sport of choice that people all over the country love and enjoy participating in. Therefore, we have seen Yanbian international players in the national team.
In this regard, Li Guanghe said, "Yanbian soccer has seen rapid development in recent decades. It's safe to say that children, both male and female, are exposed to soccer during school sports, which has led to a healthy and orderly bottom-up training and delivery channel and a steady flow of talent."
Of course, talking about the difficulties in the development, Li Guanghe also frankly said, "As we all know, Yanbian state is not an economically developed area, and we are facing various challenges. However, the state and municipal governments have given us great support, and as the leader of Yanbian soccer, we shoulder the heavy responsibility of promoting the development and improving the level of soccer, and will do our best to make more people love soccer."
Team focuses on culture, relegates early, builds undefeated home legend
As a newly promoted team, Yanbian Longding's primary goal this season is to secure a solid foothold in the Central League. On the basis of achieving relegation, it will train more local young players and allow them to accumulate experience in the Central League stage, with a view to achieving higher achievements in the future.
At the same time, the club focuses on team culture construction, whether it is internal management, the spirit of going out to the game, or to create a quality playing environment and discipline, Yanbian Longding is always strict with themselves and the pursuit of excellence.
The team successfully relegated five rounds ahead of schedule and achieved an undefeated home record of 7 wins and 8 draws with the joint efforts of all staff, players, coaches and fans. This season, Yanbian Longding is the only team that realized undefeated home games. In the matches against Sichuan Jiuniu and Qingdao West Coast, the team achieved an outstanding result of 1 win and 1 draw.
On the other hand, the team asked to clean the locker room after every away game. And when the visiting team comes to Yanbian, the club tries its best to help.
"Visiting teams coming to Yanbian almost always provide us with a free training ground, including racing cars. When visiting fans watch the matches, we also arrange for the four major fan associations in Yanbian to help them as much as possible, including providing drinking water. After the match, we will also provide guidance services for fans who are willing to sightsee in Yanbian. We believe that by treating each other sincerely, these efforts can promote the friendship between both clubs and fans and purify the atmosphere of the China League." General Manager Li Guanghe had this to say.
