On the first weekend of 2024, the venue of the Village Super League in Rongjiang County, which sits at the mountainous area in southwest China's Guizhou Province, was swamped with thousands of people celebrating the new season of China's popular village football tournament.

In the early morning of Jan. 6, the locals dressed in their ethnic costumes sang and danced, while everyone else chimed in with laughter on the football field, sharing their happiness through sports.

Village Super League, dubbed "Cun Chao," is a village football tournament hosted by local villagers. This year, as the new season kicks off, "Cun Chao" maintained its original flavor: fierce competition, colorful ethnic performances and multifarious cheering.

Yet, it also presents new features, including improved organization and management, larger competition scale and diverse cultural activities.

Over 1,800 players from 62 football teams will partake in a total of 162 games from Jan. 6 until Feb. 24. They will compete fiercely in the qualifiers which is scheduled to last nearly two months.

The expanded new season of "Cun Chao" will give players more exposure and showcase their football talents.

"Compared with the competition in 2023, there are 42 new teams participating in the new season, and there are more strict regulations on the number of players and outside help in each team," said Lai Hongjing, a member of the Organizing Committee of Village Super League and a P.E. teacher of No.1 Middle School of Rongjiang County.

Lai added that no matter how fierce the competition gets, this grassroot football tournament will always maintain its down-to-earth nature and festive atmosphere.

In this new season of the event, players of different occupations and ages competing on the same stage remains as a prominent feature. Besides, more and more players have emerged and become dark horses of the game.

The "score king" who sells local snacks like "rolled rice noodles," the "shooter" who is also a cement worker, or the "commentator" who works at a local bank, have all been brought together out of their sheer love for football.

When players arrive at the pitch, they are geared to show their passion and respect not only to the game, but to their opponents as well.

During a football game on Jan. 6, Fenghuang Village Football Team won in a sweeping victory. "We are an 'old team' and we look forward to a new breakthrough in the new season," said Zhou Yongyong, a 37-year-old goalkeeper of the team.

Zhou, who used to operate a small business, has now obtained his referee certificate after attending training courses organized by the local government. He is now a certified youth training coach in his county.

Most members of Zhou's team are ordinary laborers from all walks of life. Football brings them together and reshapes them. "Football has changed my life, giving us a big opportunity to show ourselves and a chance to realize our football dream," Zhou said.

In addition to the football competition, the "Cun Chao" is also a big stage for displaying colorful ethnic culture. At the opening ceremony of the new season, diverse colorful performances brought glamorous enjoyment to audiences.

About 6 o'clock last Saturday afternoon, villagers from Longquanjing Village beat drums and entered the stadium to cheer for their football team. Numerous villagers held two gigantic colorful bamboo dragons so high while parading and circling it around the field to show people their unique dragon boat culture.

"Dragon is our team's symbol. Through the special design on our team flag, slogan and cultural display, we hope to show more people the unique culture of Longquanjing Village," said Zhang Hongyao, the captain of Longquanjing Village Football Team.

"During the new season, we plan to fine-tune the programs that have not been performed before and show it to the audiences, and we will also add more outstanding ethnic cultural programs," said Li Sha, member of the Village Super League organizing committee and director of Rongjiang County Cultural Center.

Li added that in the finals of the new season, the Village Super League organizing committee plans to incorporate more nationwide ethnic cultural programs into the event, and help to create a more colorful cultural carnival as well.

"I came to Rongjiang at the hottest time of the Village Super League last year, and I have lived here for seven months until now. I love the hot atmosphere created by 'Cun Chao' very much," said He Yun, a tourist from Chongqing Municipality, southwest China.

Last year, a series of events during the Village Super League attracted over 58 billion viewers on the internet. People's enthusiasm for rural sports in China is also surging and becomes new growth impetus.

In the new season, Rongjiang County is striving to transform the Village Super League momentum into an economic driving force for local development so that it benefits people living in the mountainous areas.

According to the Village Super League Office of Rongjiang County, from May 13 to Oct. 28 in 2023, the county received more than 5.19 million tourists and raked in more than 5.98 billion yuan (about 837 million U.S. dollars) in its tourism sector.

Football helps the locals to stay connected to the world. Rongjiang is planning to hold the first "Belt and Road Initiative" and Village Super League Friendship Football Games in October this year. The organizers plan to invite more foreign football fans to come to "Cun Chao" and show the happiness and passion of grassroots sports to more countries and regions.

"Next, we will strive to achieve the goal of 'attracting people from all over the world to play football and have fun together'," said Xu Bo, chief of Rongjiang County. 

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