Chief correspondent of Peninsula All Media Dugincheng
Four years is the cycle of one World Cup.
Black and white football is like a fairy jumping, stirring the nerves of fans all over the world and enjoying a happy time of their own. Of course, including Chinese fans. However, it is slightly embarrassing, except for the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea, Chinese fans have never been able to act as spectators of this football feast for more than 20 years.
This Qatar World Cup, due to the epidemic, publicity, sponsors and other reasons, has almost become the "lowest sense of existence in history" World Cup in the mouth of Chinese fans, and many die-hard fans have not gone abroad to visit the scene in person as in the past, and can no longer be crazy for the World Cup. However, the story between them and football is still worth recalling...
"World Cup, so close, so far"
From the Remet Cup to the Hercules Cup, since the first World Cup football tournament was played in Uruguay in 1930, the four-year World Cup has gone through a history of nearly 100 years, and has been successfully held for 21 times, and the Qatar World Cup just started is the 22nd.
A group of Qingdao masters who used to cheer and shout at the scene of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil and the 2018 World Cup in Russia, although they temporarily stopped chasing this year, they never gave up the expectation and confidence of the World Cup in their hearts, and in the memories of the past, they looked forward to starting a more exciting journey of chasing the ball in 2026.
Group up to chase your dreams
It started with a European Cup
Early in the morning of November 18, the Huiquan No. 1 Football Stadium outside Tiantai Stadium was crowded, and Qingdao's first friendly football match for the elderly over 70 years old played to the final stage. In the end, the veterans of Guanxiang Hill won the championship by overcoming their opponents on penalties.
"If there is no epidemic, our team may organize another visit to the World Cup this year, but now everyone stays at home and plays, which is very happy." Watching the veteran players win the championship, Mr. Hang, the team manager of the Guanxiang Mountain team, said with a smile.
The 52-year-old Lao Hang worked as a football reporter, interviewed the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea and the 2006 World Cup in Germany, and later ran a stadium, organized and held many middle-aged and elderly football matches, and met a large number of like-minded and football-loving friends by the way. "We played together and watched football together for a long time, but the first time I came up with the idea of going abroad in a group was the 2012 European Championship in Poland and Ukraine."
According to statistics, Chinese fans went abroad to watch football on a large scale since the 2002 World Cup in Korea and Japan. At that time, with the realization of the dream of Chinese football in the World Cup, the dream that Chinese fans had been looking forward to for half a century finally came true. When the World Cup is held in our neighboring countries, fans are no longer satisfied with watching the game in front of the TV, stepping out of the country to cheer for the Chinese team, which has become everyone's most ardent wish.
Although the Chinese team did not score a goal in the World Cup in Japan and South Korea and swallowed nine goals in a row, Chinese fans once again understood the huge gap between the Chinese team and the world's strong teams, but this World Cup still opened the eyes of a large number of Chinese fans and led more fans to go abroad to watch the game.
For an elderly fan like Lao Hang, choosing to go abroad to watch the game, in addition to the love of football, the mutual "care" between friends is also a very important reason, in addition, some "chance" is also needed.
Lao Hang clearly remembers that in 2012, he decided to go to Europe to watch the game live, because he was encouraged by a teammate who was in the tire business. During the European Championship, Germany happened to host a worldwide tire exhibition, and he took advantage of the opportunity to talk about business in the past, so he lobbied everyone to go to the scene to watch the game. After coming and going, a six-man Euro Championship watching team was soon formed.
In 2012, Lao Hang and others, who went abroad for the first time, played a friendly match with Polish fans. Photo courtesy of interviewee
Before going to Poland, everyone made a simple budget, shared the basic expenses of air tickets and food, accommodation and travel equally, and each person took out tens of thousands of yuan to count as a "public fund". By June, they flew straight to Frankfurt.
Because I contacted local Chinese friends in Germany in advance. This six-person group enjoyed the full pick-up service as soon as they got off the plane. "We were pulled by a special minibus, first to the tire show in Germany, and then all the way to Gdansk, Poland, to watch the European Championship live." Lao Hang recalled.
Gdansk is a small city in northern Poland, located on the Baltic Sea coast, and is also an international sister city with Qingdao. Here, Mr. Hang and his teammates not only watched two European Championship group games, but also played a friendly match with local Polish fans, and they were impressed by the warm fan atmosphere and unique football culture.
"That friendly match was helped by local Chinese friends, because everyone basically did not bring football equipment when they set out from China, so they could only go to the local sporting goods store before the game to buy, and after each of them picked out the whole body, the card swiped by our group leader was useless even for the public fund." The scene of playing football with local fans, Lao Hang still remembers vividly.
Although the friendly match was very intense, adhering to the small, fast and spiritual characteristics of Chinese football, Lao Hang and his teammates still managed to win the opponent. Let Polish friends sigh: "It turns out that Chinese football is not as bad as the national team..." And because of this tacit understanding, the players on both sides competed well at the wine table after the game, and "Chinese power" won again.
It starts with football
It doesn't stop at football
"Ball King" Pele was once asked, which goal in his career is the most wonderful and beautiful? Bailey's response was: "Next." ”
To apply to the fans, the same is true of the expectations and confidence of the World Cup. The journey ahead is always more exciting, and after seeing the beauty of the World Cup, almost no one wants to stop chasing.
Since the "baptism" of the 2012 European Cup, the private viewing team of Lao Hang has successively appeared at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, the 2016 European Championship in France and the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
The trust and tacit understanding between friends make them form a tacit understanding of "automatic grouping" every time they come to the competition. Moreover, because the pace of chasing football has never stopped, they have made many new friends at home and abroad. This journey of "meeting friends with a ball" makes the brothers enjoy it.
Lao Hang opened his mobile phone, which kept the photos of the recent tournaments when he went abroad to watch the game, and the contact information of many foreign friends was also retained in his WeChat or address book.
These people are not the kind of friends who "are different today, each has a different path", "Take when we were watching the game in Warsaw, Poland, the Polish friends who received us at that time would often come to Qingdao, and because of mutual acquaintance, these foreign friends also found business opportunities in China through our team members, and now they have established very stable trade relations with some enterprises in Qingdao, and they have become very good friends with each other." ”
The most recent time he went abroad was the last World Cup in Russia, where he and his teammates went to Kaliningrad and Moscow to watch several group and knockout matches. In Kaliningrad, several military fans will not miss the opportunity to learn more about this important city during World War II, visiting some old war sites in addition to visiting local museums. The most interesting thing is that these experienced old fans directly rented a local villa and specially hired a Russian chef to take care of three meals a day.
"When we go all over the world, we want to enjoy the local scenery, taste the authentic local food, and appreciate the local culture, which is the most interesting part of going out and watching the game." Lao Hang said with "relish".
Of course, going out to watch football doesn't always leave happy memories. In summer, Russia once made the old brothers feel unexpected cold, originally the sun was still hot during the day, and suddenly cooled down in the evening, "forcing us to buy cotton clothes locally, really no way, it is really too cold." Speaking of this experience, Lao Hang and his teammates only smiled bitterly.
Unexpected cold must not be the main theme of going abroad to watch the game. Good balls, friends, good wine, make the journey to a foreign country fun and interesting. Over the years, when Chinese football has experienced ups and downs and is still standing still, Chinese fans have long ceased to be as young as they used to be, they understand and love the ball, but they no longer regard football as the pillar of the spiritual world.
According to statistics, at the 2018 World Cup in Russia, there were about 100,000 fans from China, a number that made them the second largest fan group after the host fans, a result created when the Chinese men's football team did not enter the World Cup. Obviously, everyone is more willing to distinguish between Chinese football and World Cup football.
At this year's World Cup in Qatar, Lao Hang and his teammates decided to "stop and stay at home to watch the game". After all, several of their World Cup spectators are in their seventies.
"At present, the international situation is somewhat turbulent, and several of the main players who watch the team are grandfathers and grandfathers, thinking about it, the price of going abroad to watch a World Cup is too great. However, everyone still has expectations, thinking that in 4 years, when the 2026 US-Canada-Mexico World Cup comes, it should be easy to go out to watch the football again. Lao Hang looked at the stadium and said.
Past history
Chinese fans are on the rise
The first time Chinese fans came into contact with the World Cup was in 1978. At that time, the World Cup in Argentina was broadcast for three or four places and the final of the championship and runner-up. Argentine Lick "Tulip" Netherlands won the first World Cup trophy in the country's history. This is also the key reason why the first batch of fans cultivated by the World Cup in China are mostly Argentina's "iron fans".
The televised broadcast of the World Cup in Argentina has opened a window for Chinese fans to learn about the world's advanced football. Now 60 years old, Ji Sheng also fell in love with the "Pampas Eagle" since then.
Speaking of some of the impressions he had about the World Cup, he admitted that he "couldn't remember it clearly": "At that time, ordinary families did not have TVs, and for several years after the World Cup, they learned about world football through some newspapers and magazines, and it can be said that the information was very lagging. ”
However, old fans like Ji Sheng remember that in addition to watching, the World Cup could still be "listened to" - in 1978, CCTV, also known as "Beijing TV", broadcast the public signal of international broadcasting satellites, and "commentator veteran" Song Shixiong completed the broadcast of the final in a hotel room in Hong Kong. At the same time, the live broadcast of the game was also broadcast on the radio.
In 1982, CCTV broadcast the World Cup in Spain for the first time. In that World Cup, "Golden Boy" Rossi won the "top scorer" and helped Italy win the championship, and China's first generation of "spaghetti" was born. Since then, Chinese fans have become aware of high-level football matches.
"Before that, Chinese fans would even applaud the ball when the two sides were destroying, and after that, Chinese fans learned that football can even have violent tackles, and the game is no longer just "friendship first, game second", competitive competition is to compete for the first. Ji Sheng recalled.
Since then, the Serie A league has landed on Chinese television, and the league, known as the "Little World Cup", quickly cultivated a large number of Chinese fans. Coupled with the number of handsome men in the Italian national team in those years, the number of Chinese fans supporting the Italian team rose sharply and easily surpassed the rest of the fan base.
At the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, CCTV broadcast or recorded all 52 World Cup matches for the first time, and Chinese fans realized their desire to watch the game through color television. According to official data, in 1986 China produced 14.47 million television sets, including 4.14 million color television sets.
With the inspiration of the World Cup, Chinese fans' expectations for Chinese football have become stronger. On the way to the 1986 World Cup, Chinese football dropped the chain for the first time. In the case of a draw at home with Hong Kong, China qualified, and finally lost the match 1:2.
The defeat seems to have paved the way for Chinese football. In the following decade, Chinese football remained at a trough.
With the "Italian Summer" of 1990, the memory of football was awakened again. It wasn't until China's football reform in 1994 that fans once again ignited enthusiasm for China's impact on the World Cup.
Although Chinese football has had ups and downs since then, the number of Chinese fans has continued to climb.
Chinese fans almost set a new record for the number of people watching football abroad at the last World Cup in Russia. Compared with the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea in which the Chinese men's football team participated, the number of Chinese fans participating in the scene was also about 100,000, and the fact that so many Chinese fans could be included in the World Cup in Russia not only reflects this group's love for football, but also shows China's economic strength and comprehensive quality.
Xu is that time has consumed too much enthusiasm, and by this World Cup in Qatar, the number of Chinese fans has fallen off a cliff. According to media interviews, among the World Cup tickets that have been sold, the number of tickets purchased by Chinese fans is only 5,000 to 7,000.
This is a slightly embarrassing number, but it is also expected, not many people are willing to risk football in this special period.
Live up to your love
Looking forward to fulfilling the dream in 2026
In contrast, Ji Zhen, born in 1987, is a young "die-hard fan". In addition to watching and playing football himself, he also followed Qingdao's team to the south and north, and obtained a second-level certificate in football referee in 2017 and was promoted to first-class in 2018. That same year, he and his friends traveled to Russia to watch the World Cup.
Ji Zhen is not tall, his physical fitness is average, he played football with his partners when he was young, and was often arranged to be a goalkeeper. Even so, his interest in black and white leather balls did not diminish in the slightest.
In the 1998 World Cup, the free-spirited Argentine team fascinated Ji Zhen, "The World Cup did not watch the live broadcast, and after the World Cup ended, through some highlights playback, including newspapers and magazines, I began to understand the World Cup." At that time, I liked Argentina very much and thought that Batistuta's style of playing was very handsome. ”
Two years later, Ji Zhen walked into the then Yizhong Stadium for the first time and hit a match between Qingdao and Tianjin TEDA in the A-era era, "I remember that the game ended up playing 1:1, with a red card on each side, and it was very fierce. Since then, watching the ball on the spot has gradually become a fixed scene of Ji Zhen's life. Later, he went to Jiangxi to study, and he cheered for the Bayi team on the spot; Working in Guangdong, he went to Evergrande's home stadium to feel the warm atmosphere there.
In June 2018, Ji Zhen played against Croatia at the World Cup in Russia. Photo courtesy of interviewee
In the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea, the Chinese team successfully participated for the first time in history. Ji Zhen ran to the street to party with the celebratory team, singing, dancing, and setting off firecrackers, "That scene will never be forgotten, it is more lively than the New Year." ”
Although the Chinese team did not play well in the subsequent World Cup, the surging football boom made the young Ji Zhen set the goal of "must watch the World Cup live".
On December 2, 2010, FIFA President Joseph Blatter announced that Russia had won the right to host the 2018 World Cup.
From that day on, Ji Zhen, like many Chinese fans, began to prepare, "Going to Russia to watch the game is a good opportunity for Chinese fans, after all, it is our neighboring country, and I felt that the Chinese team was led by Lippi and had a great hope of entering the World Cup." ”
Double hope made Chinese fans look forward to the World Cup.
Unfortunately, the Chinese team failed to make it to the World Cup in Russia. However, Ji Zhen and his friends were pleasantly surprised, "I failed to win the first wave of online ticket grabbing, but fortunately, at that time, there was a fan brother in Jimo who was going to take his children to Russia to watch the game, but later because of something at home, he transferred the original price of the ticket to me. ”
"Before I went, I was worried that there would be problems with language communication, and the first time I went abroad to watch the game, I was still very nervous." In the summer of 2018, Ji Zhen embarked on his first World Cup journey.
The two tickets he bought were a World Cup quarter-final in Sochi and a World Cup semi-final in Moscow.
Before the end of the group stage, Ji Zhen did not know who the two sides of the two matches would be. At first, I was looking forward to Argentina vs Portugal, and then I looked forward to Spain vs Croatia, but Spain was eliminated by Russia in the round of 16, and the 1/4 final that Ji Zhen and his friends watched in Sochi was Russia vs Croatia.
"There was some disappointment before the game, after all, neither team is a world-class team, but when I really arrived at the scene, I found that the atmosphere of the host game was the warmest, and even moving."
Russia scored the first goal in that game, which was later equalised by Croatia. In extra time, Croatia scored first, and Russia did not make it 2-2 until the 115th minute. In the final penalty shootout, Russia was sadly eliminated by Croatia.
Throughout the game, the high-pitched cheers of Russian fans never stopped, "That game was the most touching game since I watched the game, and I really experienced the power of fan culture and football." Later, when I went to Moscow to watch the semi-final between England and Croatia, the atmosphere was obviously much worse. Ji Zhen recalled.
During the 10-day trip to Russia, Ji Zhen felt two World Cup events heartily, appreciated the local customs, and met with his friends to see him at the 2022 Qatar World Cup.
Fast forward four years, and some unplanned changes have temporarily put aside their dreams for most Chinese fans who have plans to go abroad to watch football.
"I learned from the WeChat group that there are still Chinese fans going to Qatar in this World Cup, most of them are Messi or Ronaldo's 'diehard loyalists', they all watched Mero's last World Cup in the past, and they are still very envious of them, and I hope that the next World Cup can come true again." Ji Zhen said with some emotion.
"Football Kid Dreams of Qatar"
Peninsula All Media Reporter Pan Lichao
On November 17, local time, three days before the opening of the World Cup, four Chinese youths interacted and carnival with fans from all over the world at the FIFA Fan Square in Doha, Qatar. As football elites selected from all over the country, they will not only watch the World Cup live, get close to the World Cup players, and receive personal guidance from "Fantastic Coach" Milou.
Hou Zhuocheng, Wen Jialong, Bai Haobei, and Lu Zhuoyi, for these four Generation Z football boys born around 2000, this is both a journey to learn from experience and a dream. It is expected that they will contribute wonderful goals to the World Cup of Chinese football with their skills in the near future.
Enlightenment begins with a toddler
“Messi，Champion！ (Messi is the champion)" In Doha's fan square, a team of Messi fans shouted, and four Chinese youths joined in cheering for Messi. They all grew up watching Messi's game, and this time they finally had the opportunity to see the idol up close.
Qatar, here we come! On November 17, Hou Zhuocheng, Lu Zhuohui, Bai Haobei, and Wen Jialong (from left to right) took a group photo at the FIFA Fan Square of the World Cup in Doha. Photo courtesy of interviewee
Counting the fate of football, among the four young people, the earliest is Hou Zhuocheng, a senior student from Peking University, whose football story can be said to "start from learning to walk".
Hou Zhuocheng, who grew up in Zigong, Sichuan, was born in 1999, when Sichuan football was at its most brilliant, Sichuan Quanxing team ranked at the top of the A-League at the turn of the century, attracting many avid football fans in Sichuan, Hou Zhuocheng's father is one of them.
When Hou Zhuocheng was just able to walk, Hou's father let him hold the ball and play and watch the ball game together, and regardless of whether the child could understand it, Hou's father would tell his son stories related to Sichuan football such as "Chengdu Defense War" while watching the ball.
When he was a child, Hou Zhuocheng did not have the opportunity to hone his skills on the court, and every day he played or flipped the ball against the wall in the courtyard of the community, and sometimes ran wildly with the ball, "My parents are busy with work and have no time to accompany me, football is my best playmate, give me a ball, I don't feel tired playing all day." ”
As soon as he went to elementary school, Hou Zhuocheng's invisible ball skills and running speed were discovered by the coach of the school football team, and he was selected to join the school team in the first grade, training and competing with his senior brothers. Although being knocked down by senior players is the norm, Hou Zhuocheng pays more attention to his foot skills and movement.
After entering junior high school, he was guided by Chinese football legend Ma Mingyu (captain of the Chinese team in the 2002 World Cup) and Sichuan football star Zou Yougen. With his increasingly mature skills, he once scored ten goals alone in local competitions in Sichuan, and was once known as the "Zigong football genius" and became the "pride of the whole village".
"Young Away from Home" clings to football dreams
Growing up, everyone won't always have a smooth ride. After being admitted to high school, it was difficult to balance football and studies for a while, and Hou Zhuocheng, who was far away from his parents, was once very depressed, and even called his family to say that he "didn't want to practice anymore".
"At that time, I was admitted to the Chengdu No. 7 Middle School football team, and I was also admitted to the Chengdu No. 7 Middle School Science Class; The intensity of training and study is very high, for football, I can only go back to the dormitory toilet or stay up late in the quilt after training at nine o'clock in the evening, and finally passed football and was admitted to Peking University, and the three years of hard work were finally worth it. Hou Zhuocheng said.
In this regard, Wen Jialong, a teammate who went to Qatar together, was deeply touched. Wen Jialong, who was born in 2001, embarked on the road of soccer, also influenced by his father, "When I was in elementary school, every time my father picked me up from school, he would take me to play on the football field. My hometown is in Meizhou, Guangdong, because there is no suitable team, when I was 10 years old, my parents sent me to Wuhan alone, while practicing football and going to school, when I had no relatives, football was my only playmate, thinking of my parents' efforts for so many years, I dare not say that I don't want to practice, I can only continue to insist. ”
In fact, in addition to competitions and training, Wen Jialong also likes to delve into freestyle football, and he will use his spare time to watch freestyle football videos and copy the skills of freestyle football. But for the future, Wen Jialong seems to be more entangled, on the one hand, he longs to play abroad, on the other hand, he does not like life abroad, "My goal is to enter the professional team in China." ”
Just before heading to Qatar, Wen Jialong came on for Hubei in the final match of the China Second League on November 12. He has been selected for many national junior and national youth teams at all levels, and was selected into the list of "2024 Olympic Hopeful Star" of the Chinese Football Association, and in 2018 he was selected by Lippi as one of the three members of the "Outstanding Star Elite Program", and at the age of 19, he went to play for the Portuguese club Gondomar and became teammates with the Tibetan boy born in 2000.
And this trip to Qatar also made the 22-year-old Lu Zhu Kaiyu sigh about his time in the ocean: "When I first arrived in Portugal, I was only 14 years old, and I was very uncomfortable with both food and communication. Before I went abroad, my parents took care of me, and my daily life in the ocean was all self-cooking. There are training competitions almost every day, and I am physically and mentally exhausted after the high-intensity competitions. But out of his dedication to football, Lu Qiao gradually established himself in the team and persevered all the way.
Lu Zhuo and Wen Jialong both believe that Chinese players and foreign players have similar skills, but football awareness is relatively backward, especially under high-intensity and fast-paced games, it is difficult to play their level as usual training, "Sometimes you can compete with the opponent in the first half, but the physical fitness in the second half is not good... Experience is one thing, perseverance is more difficult. Speaking of the past of the young man leaving home, several football boys seemed to resonate.
The "Scripture Road" has just set off
On November 18, Hou Zhuocheng, who has 300,000 followers, posted a small video dancing outside the World Cup stadium in Qatar on social media, and many juniors and sisters liked him.
In fact, Hou Zhuocheng, a self-media expert, posted a group photo with three other teammates under the sunset at the main venue of the Qatar World Cup at the beginning of his arrival in Qatar, which caused many fans to envy in the message: "I really went to Qatar!" ”
In Hou Zhuocheng's view, this trip to Qatar is also a journey to learn from his experience, and he has a clear plan for his football life, "I hope that in the future, we can adapt measures to people's conditions, weigh the characteristics of age, physical fitness, and self-conditions, and promote a more scientific youth training system." ”
Bai Haobei, an 18-year-old who is currently studying at the journalism department of Chinese Minmin University, can better understand Hou Zhuocheng's expectations as a goalkeeper, "If there is no football, there may not be my current life and studies." I grew up with campus football, and also saw the shortcomings of campus football, such as some directional training to train some candidates who cannot play football but can get high scores, contrary to the original intention of campus football, I hope this trip to Qatar can help the development of campus football. ”
Bai Haobei, who is 1.85 meters tall, cited himself as an example, "It is very difficult to cultivate a good goalkeeper, and it requires higher attention excitement and psychological endurance; Compared with the average player, it is difficult for goalkeepers to find their sense of participation and victory in the game, and it is difficult to shine, a high-quality game and shooting, the success rate of saves is very small, and the goalkeeper gets more frustration, especially the feeling of fishing the ball out of the net after the opponent scores a goal is even more frustrating, which also leads to many people who are reluctant to play the role of goalkeeper when playing football. But I am also a person who does not admit defeat, just like a goalkeeper falling to the ground to save, after constantly falling to the ground, I will meet the next challenge with the fullest attitude. ”
"The intensity of the game and the training are completely different feelings, under the high intensity your movements are different from what you usually do, which also allows you to see where the gap with the old players is. But this gap is not that it cannot be bridged, but it needs to gradually close or even surpass them through training and competition. During the practice in Portugal, Lu Zhuo Kaiyu trained hard most of the time, but it was still very difficult to play, so he also had his own plans for this trip to Qatar, "I hope to learn more about football culture and advanced technical and tactical level through this trip to Qatar, which can help him find a better direction, hoping to make a contribution to Chinese football." ”
As of the evening of the 20th, four football teenagers have arrived outside the opening ceremony of the Qatar World Cup, and are about to enter the stadium to watch the opening ceremony, and their next schedule will be more fulfilling: in the match of the England team on the 21st, they will experience the player tunnel for the first time and interact with several young people of the England team who are almost the same age; See Messi's World Cup final dance during Argentina's match; Visit "Fantastic Coach" Milu...
They have just set off and hope that everyone can find their own place and presence on this stage. Football chases dreams, it's an all-out journey without regrets.