Twenty years have flown by, and Shaanxi fans are once again on bended knee praying by the team's training ground, eager to save their home team, but the end remains the same.
With a mix of natural and man-made disasters, the Chinese soccer world has ushered in an eventful spring. The seemingly insignificant Shaanxi Chang'an Athletic Club, whose demise has touched the hearts of countless fans.
For many areas of the country, it is difficult to understand how Xi'an, a city without a top league team for 12 years, can be among the nation's top soccer development towns.
In the sports history of new China, Shaanxi is not a strong sports province, and the foundation of soccer is far less than that of traditional strong provinces such as Liaoning, but in a land that has long lacked professional soccer, the people of Shaanxi have won national attention for their passion for soccer.
Shaanxi fans love the team as much as they love their hometown, simple and sincere - even if the team is not born locally, as long as the name "Shaanxi team", the fans will not hesitate to cheer for it.
In 1995, Bayi set up their home stadium in Xi'an, and although they moved to Kunming only a year later, the love of Shaanxi fans for soccer has been deeply imprinted in the genes of Xi'an.
In early 1996, Xi'an native Li Zhimin introduced the Bayi team to Shaanxi and established the Shaanxi Guoli Football Club. After only four seasons, the team won first place in Group AB, and the northwest region saw its first national top league team.
In the following seasons, an average of 50,000 spectators and more than one million dollars in box office revenues, creating Xi'an's "ultra-platinum ball market", several generations of fans so crazy.
"Guoli was the first top league in Shaanxi, so almost everyone was an avid fan. I was still in kindergarten at the time. Every match day, my parents took me to watch the game live, and the next day the streets were buzzing about the game and the score." Li Hongyu grew up watching soccer with his family and grew up in such an atmosphere, becoming a typical Shaanxi fan.
"At that time, because of match-fixing and some other things, the fans could actually accept Guoli's move away in their hearts, but Shanghai COSCO took over and moved to Xi'an soon afterward, which filled the void of the fans to a certain extent." In 2006, Li Hongyu said, Shanghai COSCO, which was then acquired by the Yongda Group, moved the team to Xi'an and changed its name to Shaanxi?
Despite not being a local team, the Shaanxi fans Li Hongyu remembers quickly recognized the Raccoons as "one of their own".
In the first half of the 2008 season, the team broke the Chinese Super League record with 34 points and won the halfway championship. In the following years, strong reinforcements such as Sun Jihai, Zhao Xu Ri, Qu Bo and Mao Jianqing were introduced, and the excellent results and strong lineup made Shaanxi fans regain their former enthusiasm.
However, at the end of the 2011 season, the team suddenly announced a move to Guizhou, a decision that shocked countless Shaanxi fans.
"The touch on Shaanxi fans is far greater than Guoli. At first, the fans were prepared for Guoli to leave, knowing the team's financial difficulties. Even in the last home game, the team was still saying 'see you next year' to the fans before turning away. This kind of abandonment and blow is unacceptable."
The team's every move has even changed the trajectory of many Shaanxi fans' lives to a certain extent, sowing the seeds of engaging in sports and Chinese soccer in their hearts - if we work together to develop Shaanxi sports, will we be able to keep the team forever?
Shaanxi fans are simple and rustic in their thinking.
The demise of the Changan Rodeo in Shaanxi Province
"May the next Shaanxi team draw on the strengths we have, bypass the detours we have taken, and build on the Shaanxi fans." In the farewell letter released by Shaanxi Chang'an Athletic on the evening of March 29, these words became the club's last memory of Shaanxi soccer.
In fact, looking back on this seven-year journey, Shaanxi Chang'an Athletics has always adhered to this philosophy of "putting the fans first".
In March 2016, Shaanxi Jiema Sports Co., Ltd. in the form of a natural person, together with seven companies in different industries formally registered in the industry and commerce department to establish "Shaanxi Chang'an Athletic Football Club". As a native Shaanxi team, Chang'an Athletic has become the heart of Shaanxi fans since its inception.
"Since its inception, many of the old Shaanxi fans have been following the team's every move. At first, China and B were not broadcast, so we would do everything we could to find out about the games and accompany the team on their away expeditions. Many of the away games in Baoding, Shenyang, Meizhou, and Nantong had a large number of Shaanxi fans." Yu Tianyu told us.
When the clubs stay close to the fans, the fans show with their actions that the level and the level of the team doesn't matter, whether it's in the Premier League, the First Division or the Second Division. What matters is the team. "Shaanxi team" - as long as you represent Shaanxi, you are the warriors of the fans.
And over the years, the rising threshold of investment in Chinese soccer brought about by golden dollar soccer has made Shaanxi Chang'an Athletic's development a struggle.
"As Shaanxi fans, we did a background check on the team before the outbreak. Shaanxi Chang'an Athletic was doing very well for a Chinese League One team, but it's hard to call it a benign operation in the overall environment of Chinese soccer at the time." Some investors told us that many brands and companies were interested in Shaanxi Chang'an Athletic, but were ultimately scared off by the investment climate in Chinese soccer.
In its article, Orange Cat, who investigated Chang'an Athletic in depth, also confessed that "Chang'an Athletic's commercial operation ability is top-notch in China, and its sponsorship revenue can even rank among the top of the Chinese Super League. However, it is undeniable that the existing debt is high and the amount of continuous investment needed every year in the future is too high."
However, in the process, Shaanxi Chang'an Athletic set their goals for the new season, having already completed targeted signings and additions, including head coach Wang Baoshan, which made it unaffordable for the club to lose the support of the Water Group.
According to sources, the direct cause of Shaanxi Chang'an Athletic's failure to complete access was ultimately the issue of outstanding wages for this group of new recruits.
Wang Baoshan is also the first international player in Shaanxi soccer history.
"Whether it is the epidemic or the cooperation with the water group, in fact, behind these highlights, or the current Chinese soccer market and clubs in the operation of the failure."
Some local Shaanxi fans told us about Da Qin Zhishui as an example. Although they have supported the club for many years, Da Qin Zhi Shui is not a socially oriented product. It is more familiar to locals as the designated water for the Shaanxi National Games and many business meetings. Even in most supermarkets and convenience stores, this product is not sold.
Some other investors said, "Shaanxi Chang'an Athletic's launch of the membership system was a very good attempt, but the timing of the launch was too hasty and the setup had many imperfections, it was more like showing potential investors and the government that 'our fan base is worth investing in' with this kind of achievement ."
Where is the future of Shaanxi soccer?
Despite the pain of losing the team again, "future" is still the word most mentioned by Shaanxi people this spring.
March 29, in Shaanxi Changan Athletic announced the dissolution of the same day, the Xi'an Municipal Government released the Xi'an City, the national soccer development key city construction work program (2022-2025), clearly put forward to adhere to the strong protection of the heavy practical effect, laying the foundation of a steady improvement, building platforms to seek breakthroughs, the construction of the national development of soccer key city. The establishment of "community (village)-street (town)-district (development zone)-city" four-level soccer association management system; by 2025, we will strive to rebuild the city's various types of soccer venues at all levels of 200 yuan; an annual investment of not less than 30 million yuan for the construction of the national key city soccer development and high-level soccer reserve personnel training.
Of course, soccer needs policy support from the city, but in terms of the history of soccer in Shaanxi, the team first needs to take root in the city and the community, cultivate a soccer culture, and make soccer accessible to everyone, rather than becoming a purely governmental image project and propaganda tool.
Therefore, fostering a fan atmosphere is a priority for a possible future Shaanxi team.
Indeed, professional sports reflect the strength of the local economy and culture from the side. The fact that Shaanxi keeps losing teams is regrettable and unfortunate, but to some extent it also reflects the fact that Shaanxi's ostensibly popular market is still not strong enough to sustain a team.
As the saying goes, the Qin people do not have time to mourn themselves, and the future generations will mourn them. Shaanxi Chang'an Athletics and Shaanxi fans are not alone in what is happening today.
