Today, in an interview with Red Star News reporter, Chengdu Football Association head Koo Jianming fondly recalled the stormy course of Chengdu's soccer in the past year and talked about the far-reaching impact of Chengdu Rongcheng's success in reaching the Super League on the whole city.
Koo expressed his heartfelt gratitude to the Xingcheng Group, "It was at the most critical moment that they stepped forward to create Chengdu Rongcheng FC and shoulder the heavy responsibility of Chengdu soccer."
According to Koo, for Chengdu soccer, the extraordinary significance of the Super League is that Chengdu, as a pilot city for China's soccer reform, has a long soccer culture and a solid fan base, which is matched by the city's status as an international first-class soccer stadium and a top league team in Phoenix Hill Sports Park.
Talking about head coach Xu Zhengyuan, Koo was full of praise: "Xu Zhengyuan has brought about remarkable changes in the management and training of the team, and as a coach, he is extremely demanding. Take a close look at Chengdu Rongcheng's players and you'll see that they're all exemplary professional players, which is inseparable from the intense training, and the players have almost no extra flab."
"Despite the fact that other Chinese Super League teams had previously offered Xu Zhengyuan generous packages, he chose Chengdu Rongcheng. After learning about Chengdu's soccer heritage, the Football Association's ladder construction, Xingcheng Group's stable investment and the club's long-term plan, he made a wise choice. I believe that after a year of bonding, both he and the team will make more progress next season."
Chengdu Rongcheng has stepped up its efforts to bring in local players in the Central League. In the past two years, players trained by the Chengdu Football Association's Derry Football Training Center such as Feng Zhuoyi, Li Jianbin, Zhang Yino, Xiang Baixu, Yang Ting, Min Junlin, Liu Chaoyang, Xing Yu and other players have returned to the city, and Sichuan native Liu Ruofan has also been given the opportunity to play for his hometown team for the first time.
Koo said that this is in line with the original intention of creating Chengdu Rongcheng FC: "Our goal is to take local players as the base and absorb the best talents from all over the country. This season, including players such as Gan Rui and Hu Mingming, who previously played for Chengdu soccer, the proportion of players with local soccer imprints in Chengdu Rongcheng's team has reached two-thirds, which is something to be pleased about."
"We hope that when we enter the Chinese Super League, we can attract more good players back to our hometown, which is the real meaning of Chengdu Rongcheng's success in the Super League!"
