Guiyang, May 1 (Xinhua) -- On the evening of May 1, in the "Village Super" stadium in Rongjiang County, Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture, Guizhou Province, with a whistle, the friendly match between the African Liberian Federation of Social Security Football Team and the Liaoning Donggang Strawberry Football Team started, marking the first game in which an African team participated in Guizhou's "Village Super".
Using the ball as a medium to link Africa. This is the close interaction between Rongjiang, its birthplace, and Africa, after the spread of Guizhou "Village Super" as a folk football brand in Benin, South Africa and other places in Africa, also indicates the beginning of the future friendship journey between the two places.
First African friendlies
"Wonderful! Come on!" "Liberian Social Security Federation football team cooperated tacitly on the pitch and launched an attack, teammates off the field and spectators outside the stadium were also cheering for their wonderful performance.
Since the beginning of this year, many fans and tourists have witnessed the style of the French youth team and the international student football team of Guizhou University in this stadium, but everyone still feels fresh when they see this African team play the first game of the "Village Super League".
Before the game, the 21-member football team of the HKCSS was full of expectations for this game. The team, led by officials from the Liberian Embassy in Beijing, usually play together and have a very tacit cooperation, and they hope to give a good game.
Moshe Buckley, First Secretary of the Liberian Embassy in China for eight years, visited Rongjiang for the first time. Previously, he watched the hot scene of "Village Super" through video.
"The people here love football and the atmosphere is impressive. Barkley said he hoped the game would bring joy to fans and visitors.
The day before the game, the football team of the Federation visited the Dali Dong village near the county seat, experienced ethnic cultural activities such as barricade wine and Dong song, and interacted with local villagers.
"This is my first encounter with Dong culture, and I feel very special. I was touched by the friendliness of the people in the village!" said Godrich Samwell, a young university student, adding that he would like to come back to Rongjiang if he had the opportunity in the future.
"It's a football journey, it's a friendship journey. Jose Jacobs, who has been playing football for more than 20 years, said that Rongjiang's ethnic culture is rich and colorful, and they are still studying hard, hoping to use football to enhance understanding and deepen friendship.
The "village super" model is in Africa
The match against the HKCSS football team was not the first time that Rongjiang had linked up with Africa.
Wang Yongjie, head of new media communication of Guizhou's "Village Super", introduced that in March and April 2024, "Village Super", as a new model for the integration and development of modern football and national culture, will be "copied" in the villages of Parakou City, Benin, Africa and Cape Town, South Africa, respectively.
"Villagers who love football in the two places have borrowed the gameplay of 'Village Super' and launched events called 'African Village Super' and 'South African Village Super' respectively. Wang Yongjie said.
At the end of March 2024, 12 teams from Belle Village, Kasa Village, Shuiba Village, Kongoma Village, Chika Village, Park Village and other places played a competition called "The First African Village Super" on a football field in Belle Village, where the China-aided Benin cotton technology project is located in Palakou.
Shou Xiaoyong, head of the technical team of China's aid to Benin cotton technology project, introduced that this event not only has a passionate competition, but also ethnic cultural programs performed by villagers, including Chinese martial arts and other programs with Chinese elements performed by members of China's aid to Benin cotton technology project team. The tournament will be held on weekends and will last until the end of May.
"At the beginning of this year, I returned to China on leave and learned about the continued popularity of 'Village Super'. After returning to Benin, I introduced the 'village super' to the local villagers in late March, and proposed to learn from and build a local 'village super', which received an enthusiastic response. Shou Xiaoyong said that since the start of the competition, the atmosphere of the event has become more and more intense, bringing a lot of happiness to the villagers.
"The game is exciting, the show is very good!" said Barchilow, a local villager who has been there many times to watch the game, and every time he comes home after watching the game, he will talk about the game with his family and share the joy.
The future of friendship between the two places is promising
"The match with the Liberian Federation of Social Services football team will start the journey of football friendship between Africa and Rongjiang. Peng Xixi, the person in charge of the operation and management of Guizhou's "Village Super", who is responsible for the external liaison of the "Village Super", said that judging from the current willingness of the two places, more African teams will come to Rongjiang in the future to "make friends with ball".
Barkley hopes to enhance the friendship between the two countries through the competition, and at the same time strengthen the in-depth exchanges between Africa and China. "There are many countries in Africa that love to play football, and through football events, Africa can be better connected with Rongjiang and China. He hopes that more teams and even the national team in Liberia can play in Rongjiang, and said that this wish is not far away.
Similarly, the villagers of Paraku are looking forward to being on the "village super" field. Shou Xiaoyong said that the villagers there hope that the "African Village Super League" they hold can go out of Africa and go to China, and bring their teams to the "Village Super League" stadium in Guizhou to participate in the competition.
"For more than 10 years, China's cotton technology project in Benin has carried out cotton production technology experiments, promoted cotton planting technology, and trained agricultural technicians in Benin. Shou Xiaoyong said that the improvement of material conditions has given the local people more spiritual pursuits and communication needs.
"We have brought new farming tools, new agricultural materials and new technologies to the local people. Shou Xiaoyong said that the next step will be to help the two sides strengthen people-to-people exchanges through football events in the future, and then deepen the friendship between China and Bangladesh.