Society
Amateur football leagues win over cynical Chinese fans
China's Super League reels from match-fixing and gambling scandals, while the national team's dismal tournament showings spark relentless scorn from furious fans online.
![Fans watch the amateur league football match between Suzhou and Yangzhou at the Kunshan Olympic Sport Center in Kunshan, in eastern China's Jiangsu province. [Hector Retamal/AFP]](/gc4/images/2025/08/21/51627-football-600_384.webp)
By AFP |
On a summer's day in the city of Suzhou, about 40,000 people crowded into a stadium while thousands more gathered by public screens to watch China's hottest sport -- amateur football.
A balm for cynical fans drained by years of corruption and ineptitude in the professional game, the amateur leagues springing up around China have drawn millions of viewers online, boosted domestic tourism to lesser-known locales and sparked good-natured rivalry between cities.
At the sold-out match in searing heat in Suzhou, near Shanghai, the home crowd jumped out of their seats and cheered when 17-year-old Kou Cheng scored against Yangzhou city in the second minute.
Many wore bright red jerseys and T-shirts emblazoned with the characters for "Suzhou" and used paper fans to cool themselves.
"Compared to other competitions, the fans here are more passionate, and even if they don't understand football, the atmosphere is lively," Qian Chunyan, a 35-year-old Suzhou resident, told AFP.
The tournament first took off in the eastern province of Jiangsu -- where Suzhou is located -- earlier this year.
The live-streamed matches soon drew millions of spectators on social media, putting smaller provincial cities on the domestic tourism map.
That, in turn, has created a local consumption boom, giving cities that host matches a much-needed reprieve from years of sluggish spending.
'Pure football'
Fans of local amateur leagues told AFP they were drawn to matches by the simplicity of football not weighed down by the vast sums of money the professional game involves.
"With widespread public participation and minimal corporate involvement, it's a more pure form of football," Wang Xiangshuo, a Suzhou football fan, told AFP.
"Winning or losing doesn't matter, purity is most important."
Professional football clubs in China, even in its top Super League, have been plagued by match-fixing and gambling scandals.
The national team's abysmal performances at international tournaments often draw scorn and abuse from social media users.
President Xi Jinping has said he wants China to win the World Cup one day.
But the men's team are ranked 94th in the world by FIFA this year and they have only qualified once for the World Cup, in 2002, when they lost all three of their games without scoring a goal.