On December 24, the date and place of the final of Yanjing Beer 2021 Chinese Football Association Cup were officially released. On January 9, 2022, the final championship and runner-up duel will be staged at the Chengdu Phoenix Mountain Sports Park Professional Football Stadium, one of the eight new professional stadiums of the 2023 Asian Cup in China, and the final Shandong Taishan team and Shanghai Haigang team will compete for the 2021 FA Cup championship trophy. This is also the second time that Chengdu has hosted a large-scale domestic football event after many years.
Due to the consideration of epidemic prevention and control, Yanjing Beer 2021 Chinese Football Association Cup is mainly based on tournament system competitions, and 32 teams from the Chinese Super League, China First Division, China Second Division and Chinese Champions League participate in the main competition. Among them, the first and second rounds of the FA Cup (32 into 16, 16 in 16 in 8) a total of 24 matches were held in Jinan, Meizhou, Changchun and Dalian, with 8 teams in each division, and 2 teams in each division were determined to advance to the top 8; the third and fourth rounds (8 into 4 two legs and semi-final two legs) A total of 12 matches were held in Dalian. In the end, Shandong Taishan defeated Henan Jianye in the semifinals, and Shanghai Haigang eliminated Shanghai Shenhua in the semifinals, and the two teams joined hands to reach the final championship and runner-up finals.
Where the final will be staged has also become a matter of great concern to fans and the media in recent days. Now, this doubt has finally been solved, and Chengdu has finally won the right to host the final of the 2021 Chinese Football Association Cup. This will be the opening show of the Chengdu Phoenix Mountain Sports Park Professional Football Stadium, one of the venues of the 2023 Asian Cup in China, which is not only a professional football stadium designed with the latest FIFA standards, with a construction area of about 130,000 square meters, but also a complete supporting service facility for fans to watch the game, and the total number of seats is about 60,000 seats. Therefore, the final of the FA Cup is held here, which is of great significance to the Chinese Football Association Cup, which is celebrating the 65th anniversary, to Chengdu, the host city of the 2023 China Asian Cup, and to the professional football stadium of Chengdu Phoenix Mountain Sports Park.
Chengdu football has written a strong stroke in Chinese football, on April 17, 1994, the opening ceremony of the first A-League was held in Chengdu, and the curtain was opened in the first year of the Chinese Professional Football League. In the opening match of the first A-League, Sichuan Quanxing drew 1-1 with the former liaoning team. It was also from then on that Sichuan Quanxing and Chengdu Wuniu, two former Chengdu fans, proudly joined forces to open up the earliest "gold medal ball market" for Chinese professional leagues.
In recent years, with the joint efforts of the Chengdu Football Association and departments at all levels, the aim is to "expand the football population, promote football and improve the level of football" Chengdu youth football and social football are developing in a vigorous and orderly manner! The 2004 Men's Asian Cup, the 2007 Women's World Cup, the 2010 Women's Asian Cup, the "Panda Cup" and other large-scale international events have been successfully held in Chengdu, which fully demonstrates the first-class level of competition in Rongcheng. This time, the host of the FA Cup final can be spent in Chengdu, which can also be said to be another reward and recognition of Chengdu football's efforts over the years.
Shandong Taishan and Shanghai Haigang, which reached the final of this year's FA Cup, can be called the two strongest teams in the Chinese Super League at present, and the two teams are attacking the 2021 Chinese Super League champions, and they have reached the final of the FA Cup at the same time, which can be said to be the true embodiment of the strength of the two teams. In the history of the FA Cup, Shandong Taishan team has won 11 final trips and won the championship 6 times; Shanghai Haigang has reached the final once and won the runner-up. This year, who will become the double champion of Chinese football in 2021, or the two teams in the league and cup match, the mystery will be revealed on January 9 at the professional football stadium of Chengdu Phoenix Mountain Sports Park.