Li Guanghe, General Manager of Yanbian Longding Football Club, revealed in an interview, "The only thing we have to do now is to keep our feet on the ground and steadily push forward with the expansion of various businesses. Once the time is ripe and the market environment continues to be optimized, we have no hesitation in expecting to bring Yanbian soccer back to the Chinese Super League stage as soon as possible."
On the map of Chinese soccer, the proverb "Meixian in the south, Yanbian in the north" has been circulating for a long time. Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture, as one of the cradles of Chinese soccer, has a long history of soccer, and when professional soccer started in 1994, Yanbian Aodong's all-attacking and all-defending tactics, full stands, and the "tree-hanging" fans who climbed up trees to watch the matches because they could not buy tickets all left a deep impression on the nation's fans. The game has left a deep impression on fans all over the country.
However, with the increasing marketization of the professional league and competition, Yanbian soccer also once fell into the doldrums. Now, Yanbian Long Ding Club inherits the spirit of soccer with a "Yanbian heart" and brings the joy of soccer to the border town in one victory after another, and also provides a platform for fans to show themselves.
The national and municipal governments fully support Yanbian Longding in its popular activities.
A 20-kilometer drive south from Yanji City, the government of Yanbian Prefecture, arrives at the soccer town of Hailanjiang, Longjing City, which is the training base of Yanbian Longding Football Club. The U-17 team of Yanbian Longding is training in dozens of natural and artificial grass training bases 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, while auxiliary facilities such as fan culture shopping malls are also under construction in the surrounding area.
"The nearly 1,000-acre soccer town in front of us is still being optimized. We expect to build it as a benchmark, not only for Yanbian Longding professional team and ladder team to train and play, but in the future, we also welcome all walks of life and young people to use it as a place for vacation, recreation and exposure to soccer." General Manager Li Guanghe introduced so during the visit.
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 a strong soccer atmosphere in schools and communities at all levels. It can be said that soccer is the first sport that all people love and actively participate in. As a result, there are Yanbian international players playing for the country in the recent national team.
On this point, Li Guanghe said, "In recent decades, Yanbian soccer has developed well. It can be said that children, both male and female, are exposed to soccer during school sports, which has led to a healthy and organized training and delivery channel for our talent."
Of course, when talking about the development challenges, Li Guanghe also frankly said: "As we all know, Yanbian Prefecture is not an economically developed area, and we are facing various difficulties. However, the state and municipal governments have given us great support and care. As the leader of Yanbian soccer, we shoulder the social responsibility of improving the level of soccer in Yanbian, and will do our best to promote more popular causes from various aspects."
Team emphasizes culture, completes relegation ahead of schedule, creates undefeated home legend
As a promoted team, Yanbian Longding's primary goal this season is to stabilize their league position and avoid relegation. On this basis, more local young players will be nurtured and allowed to gain experience in the Central League, with a view to achieving higher goals in the future.
At the same time, the club also attaches importance to team culture construction. Whether it is the internal management, the spirit of going out to the game, or to create a high-quality game environment and discipline, Yanbian Longding always strictly demand themselves.
The team not only succeeded in relegation five rounds ahead of schedule, but also created an undefeated home record of 7 wins and 8 draws this season with the joint efforts of all staff, players, coaches and fans. This season, Yanbian Longding became the only team to realize undefeated home games. In the home matches against Sichuan Jiuniu and Qingdao West Coast, the team achieved 1 win and 1 draw respectively.
In addition, the team asked every player to clean the locker room after away games. The club also does its best to help the visiting teams that come to Yanbian to compete.
"For almost all visiting teams to Yanbian, we provide a free training ground, including racing cars. When visiting fans come to Yanbian to watch the match, we will also arrange for the four major fan associations in Yanbian to provide assistance, including the provision of drinking water. After the match, we will also provide guidance services for those fans who would like to visit Yanbian. We believe that treating each other sincerely can enhance the friendship between both clubs and fans and purify the atmosphere of the China League." So said General Manager Li Guanghe.
