When it comes to Chinese men's football, the Chinese people will always have a sullen breath. But in fact, in the 1980s and early 1990s, the national football team was still a first-class team in Asia.
So has Chinese football had a glorious period, in fact, there are some, but it is relatively long.
In the 1954 and 1958 Asian Games, the Chinese Taipei football team also won the Asian Games twice! At that time, the Asian Cup was not yet a climate, and the Asian Games were the highest level of Asian football.
Speaking of Chinese players, I have to mention a representative figure, who was in 1976 in the selection organized by an authoritative football magazine in the Federal Republic of Germany, along with The Brazilian Pele, Germany's Beckenbauer, Argentina's Stefano and Hungary's Puskasz as the king of the Chinese player - Li Huitang.
According to statistics, Li Huitang has scored more than 2,000 goals in various football matches.
In 1923, 1925, 1930 and 1934, he played for the country in the football matches of the 6th to 10th Far Eastern Games, and won the championship for the Chinese team four times! (Of course, there are only three or four participating teams.) In China at that time, especially in Shanghai, there was a saying: "To watch the drama, you must see Mei Lanfang, and when you watch the ball, you must see Li Huitang." ”
In 1954 and 1958, he led the Chinese Taipei team to win the Asian Games championship for the Chinese nation as a coach.
Li Huitang was also a veritable patriotic player, who refused Wang Jingwei's invitation in 1941 and organized several football tournaments to raise funds for the anti-Japanese resistance. A total of 138 free matches were played in Shaoguan, Guilin, Nanning, Sichuan and other places. All the income was donated to wounded soldiers, orphans, and people in the disaster area.
By the way, after Li Huitang returned to his hometown of Meizhou that year, he also promoted the development of Meizhou football. When my grandfather was a child, he used to watch Li Huitang lead the family team to play against our Tin Hang Town team. The good atmosphere of mass football in Meizhou today is closely related to Li Huitang's driving force in that year.
Former residence of the Ball King
Li Huitang not only has excellent ball skills, he also has relevant football books "Ball Garden Vegetable Root Collection", "Miscellaneous Fruit Plate", "Football Referee", and also founded the Chinese Football Referee Association, worked as a sports commentator, and was elected vice president of the Asian Football Association and vice president of FIFA.
The stadium, named after the King of Balls, is also the home of the Meizhou Hakka team
Finally, Li Huitang also has a title, which is one of the "Eight Sages of Meizhou". It can be seen that Li Huitang's spiritual status in the minds of the people of Meizhou, especially the people of Wuhua County, Meizhou, is very high.
The people of Meizhou love to watch football