Chinese Super League match.
Image source: IC photo
"Dalian, Dalian, you must win!"
Sitting in the press box at the home court of the China Super League on the evening of the 6th, accompanied by the deafening cheers of the fans, I felt both familiar and unfamiliar.
It takes nearly 4 hours to take the high-speed train from Beijing to Dalian, and it takes more than 1 hour to drive from downtown Dalian to Puwan Stadium.
It took 979 days for the Chinese Super League to return to its true home court once again.
Long lost home fans.
Photo by Chinanews reporter Bian Liqun
home
A month ago, at the end of the first phase of the Chinese Super League, the Chinese Football Association and the Chinese Football Federation preparatory team announced at the league work meeting that the Chinese Super League would resume the home and away game in the second phase.
From the perspective of the schedule, in theory, Haishenhua's game against Changchun Yatai on the evening of the 5th is the first game after the resumption of home and away games, but the former's "home" is temporarily set in Dalian.
In the other two games that night, the "home team" Hebei team and Shenzhen team also failed to return to the home court for the time being, and played in the neutral division Haikou.
A day later, the Dalian natives played against Shanghai Harbour at home.
From the moment the fans poured into Dalian's home court, the real home court of the Chinese Super League has returned.
The entrance ceremony of the match between Dalian people and Shanghai harbor.
Photo by Chinanews reporter Bian Liqun
From the last round of the season on December 1, 2019, to the 11th round of the 2022 season on August 6, it spanned nearly two and a half seasons and 979 days.
Of the 16 teams at the time, four had disbanded in the past two and a half years.
Chongqing Liangjiang Athletic fell before the start of this season.
Tianjin Tianhai and the Jiangsu team, who played directly at that time, "passed away" in the 2020 and 2021 seasons one after the other.
The Beijing Renhe, the last home game of the Dalian People's team, also fell in early 2021.
game scene.
Photo by Chinanews reporter Bian Liqun
979 days
Witnessed by 15,968 fans, the "All-China Class" Dalian Team, which is not dominant in strength, drew 1:1 with Shanghai SIPG.
This is the first time that the team name of "Dalian People" has appeared on the big screen at home after the team completed the change of the neutral name.
The three players in the Dalian team, Wu Wei, Lin Liangming, and Tong Lei, joined the team as early as the 2020 season, but this is their first home appearance.
Lin Liangming scored the equalizing goal and accepted the goal courtesy of the fans shouting their names.
Midfielder Wu Wei can see that he is very excited in the game and has a good performance.
Tong Lei, who came on as a substitute, finally felt the atmosphere of Dalian's home court.
Dalian native coach Xie Hui commanded behind the fans.
Image source: IC photo
Xie Hui, the coach who took over the Dalian team this season, was "forced" to appear in the stands because of his suspension.
Although he didn't make his home debut, he made his debut in a different category - Xie Hui sat behind a group of Dalian fans and "led" the team.
Even when conveying the substitution adjustment, the fans helped Xie Hui to shout together, successfully conveying the intention of the substitution.
The humorous scene also interprets the essence of football, which relies on everyone and requires people's participation.
Screenshots of netizens' comments.
return
On the way to the stadium, fans wearing Dalian uniforms appeared on the streets of Dalian after a long absence.
The uniforms of many fans are still the 2019 season before the epidemic, and the names printed on the backs of many of the jerseys are still Carrasco, the representative foreign aid of the Chinese Super League at the time when the big-name players gathered.
The Dalian team's home stadium this season, Puwan Stadium, is not close to the city, and it takes about 70 kilometers to drive.
Under the epidemic, requirements such as a 48-hour nucleic acid test negative certificate are also required.
The price of tickets for the competition is divided into three grades: 60 yuan, 100 yuan and 150 yuan.
Objectively speaking, the time cost and cost of watching such a game are not low, but there are still more than 15,000 fans who went to the scene to watch the game.
game scene.
Photo by Chinanews reporter Bian Liqun
Fan Pang Hai gathered together the "starting 11" to watch Dalian's home game. He and his friends also brought their children to the scene to experience football.
"We belonged to a football team when we were in college. I heard that the Dalian team's home court was open to spectators, so I immediately started to organize and watch the game in the group. It's been a long time since I wanted to watch a game so urgently. Watching the game live is still at the end of the 2019 season, and I am very excited to be able to watch the game live after such a long time.”
Pang Hai said that after the game, he would go to the beach with his friends for a drink and a get-together.
"On the one hand, watching the game this time is to cheer for the Dalian team, and on the other hand, it is also through football to catch up with friends and chat with friends. This is also a kind of adjustment to life. Including shouting at the stadium can also be very good. release your emotions," he said.
A screenshot of Dalian's player Lin Liangming's social media after the game.
Not only the fans, but also for the team, to be able to play at a home with fans is very exciting, excited, and very happy.
Chang Lin, the acting head coach after the game, admitted at a press conference that in this atmosphere, some were reluctant to leave the stadium.
Hopefully in the future each home fan will be more than the number of people who come here.
Dalian team scoring hero Lin Liangming wrote on social media after the game: "I have thought countless times what it would be like to play in front of tens of thousands of Dalian fans for the first time, but all imaginations are not as shocking as reality."
Screenshots of netizens' comments
While many fans of other teams envied Dalian's home court, they also sighed that this is what football should be like.
At present, 7 of the 18 Chinese Super League teams have not resumed home games, and among the 11 teams playing at home, only Dalian and Henan Songshan Longmen are currently open to spectators.
I hope that more and more happiness belonging to football can return as soon as possible.