In an in-depth interview with Soccer Daily, Xiamen Football Association (XFA) executive Su Meilong said that Xiamen is in dire need of a professional soccer team of its own.
Recently, the 2024 "I Love Soccer" youth soccer event and the White Dolphin Cup cross-strait youth soccer tournament were staged in Xiamen, accumulating valuable experience for the Xiamen Football Association in preparing for large-scale tournaments. Although Xiamen's professional soccer field is still empty, Su Meilong revealed that many Xiamen citizens have always shared the dream of having a professional team in their hearts.
Su Meilong, who is the vice president and secretary general of Xiamen Football Association, was once a member of Xiamen professional soccer team. In the eyes of many citizens, the Xiamen Football Association carries the soccer dreams of 5.3 million Xiamenites. Although Xiamen has been in China's top league for 30 years, it has been nearly 17 years since the Xiamen Blue Lions withdrew from the top league.
Talking about the youth soccer tournament, Su Meilong said, "Holding the tournament not only accumulates experience in tournament planning, publicity and communication, teamwork and crisis response, but also lays a solid foundation for the success of our future events."
It is worth mentioning that in recent years, Xiamen has attached great importance to the influence of high-level events and high-level professional sports clubs in the city. Earlier this year in May, the Xiamen Sports Bureau and the Finance Bureau jointly released the Implementation Measures for Funding and Incentives for High-level Professional Sports Clubs in Xiamen (2024 Revision).
The funding program targets professional sports clubs named "Xiamen" and covers a wide range of fields such as soccer, basketball and volleyball. The maximum amount of funding per season is 20 million yuan for Chinese Super League clubs, 6 million yuan for women's Super League clubs, and 3 million yuan for clubs in the men's or women's first division.
Sumeron emphasized that the implementation of incentive policies is crucial. He revealed that the construction of high-quality teams is the focus of the work, including professional and amateur teams. Xiamen Football Association will be committed to youth training, team building and high-quality development, and will continue to optimize the institutional mechanism and improve policies and measures to promote the sustainable development of Xiamen soccer.
Mr. Chan Pak Cheung, the special guest of White Dolphin Cup, talked about the popularization and development of youth soccer in the interview. He recalled his love for soccer as a child and although he failed to become a professional player, soccer has always been his hobby. Now at the age of 74, Mr. Chan Pak Cheung, in his capacity as a soccer enthusiast, hopes to pass on his love through soccer and inspire more young people to love soccer.
