Photo courtesy of Tan Daqing, the former Chongqing football city
Last spring, Chongqing Football experienced a very sad farewell. On March 21, 2021, foreign aid Caldek, who played for the Chongqing team for five years, said goodbye to his teammates in the club’s conference room. Next, he is about to go south and put on the Shenzhen team jersey. On that day, outside the gate of the Yanghe training base of the Chongqing team, hundreds of fans spontaneously came to see Caldek off. They held up Caldek’s field photos and held Caldek’s Chongqing team jersey. Some fans also put up banners that read: “This relationship can be reminisced, and I will go home often, looking forward to meeting each other.”
At that time, no one would have thought that in the late spring and early summer of 2022, the fate of the Chongqing team would come to an end – home, gone.
1997’s past can be looked back on
At the end of 1996, the avant-garde Huandao of the A-A team moved from Wuhan to Chongqing, and Shancheng had its first top-level league team. Chongqing fans are very excited about this. Before that, many Chongqing fans who wanted to watch football had to go to Chengdu to watch the Sichuan Quanxing game, and Mu Yong, an old fan, was one of them.
“At that time, we Chongqing fans really had a hard time. When we went to Chengdu to watch football, sometimes we couldn’t buy a sleeper ticket for the train, so we could only sit in the aisle for one night. When we arrived in Chengdu, no one solved our tickets. We only You can buy high-priced tickets outside the stadium. I remember that in 1995, the scalpers outside the stadium shouted a ticket to 300 yuan. At that time, what was the concept of 300 yuan?” Lin Qiang told the New Yellow River reporter.
On the day Qianwei Huandao arrived in Chongqing, the mountain city was boiling. Nearly a thousand fans went to the airport together to welcome the arrival of the team. To this day, Mou Yong still clearly remembers the scene at that time. He drove a Cadillac to pick up the team’s owner, Wang Fusheng, and the team’s coach, Xiao Duyin, and they all sat in his car. “From the airport, to Jiefangbei, and then to the hotel where the team stayed, there were a lot of fans gathered on both sides of the road to welcome their team. It was really crowded.” Mou Yong said that at that time, all the fans in Chongqing were full of people. I feel extremely happy: “With my own team, I don’t need to go to Chengdu to watch football anymore.” As a member of the Chongqing Fan Association, Mou Yong can watch football for a season, and the package ticket is only 290 yuan.
In the first season after settling in Chongqing, the avant-garde Huandao did not hesitate to invest in the transfer market, bringing in Gao Feng, Han Jinming, Jiang Feng, Jiang Bin and other national-level domestic aids. However, after the start of the season, the team has been slow to release real energy on the court, and it is difficult to obtain a victory. Shrapner, the former national football coach who was in charge of the avant-garde Huandao at that time, was dismissed from get out of class.
On June 29, 1997, Qianwei Huandao defeated Shanghai Shenhua 1-0 at home, ushering in the first home victory since settling in Chongqing. After the game, Chongqing fans held a victory parade outside Datianwan Stadium, venting their surging passion. And just 11 days ago, the Chongqing municipality listing unveiling ceremony was grandly held.
17 years of ups and downs in the era of Lifan
On November 12, 2000, the Chongqing team ushered in the most glorious moment in the history of the team. On that day, the Huandao team named Chongqing Loncin won the FA Cup championship trophy by beating Beijing Guoan 4-1 at home in the second round of the FA Cup final. At the moment when the final whistle sounded, countless excited Chongqing fans jumped off the stands, rushed into the field, and began to celebrate wildly. Lee Jang-soo, the South Korean coach who was in charge of the Chongqing team at that time, could not help but burst into tears.
“That day was the most solemn festival for our Chongqing fans, and I will never forget it.” Tan Daqing, 68, told the New Yellow River reporter. Tan Daqing is better known by his nickname, “Monkey Ball”. Since 1998, he has played the role of Monkey King, and “Monkey Ball” has become a scene in the stadium stands. In 2000, Tan Daqing was 46 years old and had not yet retired. In order to watch the first round of the FA Cup final in Beijing, he asked for leave from his work unit, took instant noodles on to the green train, and arrived in Beijing after a long journey of more than 20 hours. The Chongqing team lost 0-1 in the first round, which did not make Tan Daqing downcast. He firmly believed that the team could win back at home. The Chongqing team did not teach him disappointment. According to Tan Daqing’s recollection, after the final, Chongqing fans were reluctant to leave for a long time, and spontaneously started a parade to celebrate: “Everyone walked, starting from Datianwan Stadium, all the way to Jiefangbei. That night, the excited fans didn’t want to sleep at all. The mountain city has really become a city that never sleeps.”
It was also on the day of winning the FA Cup championship trophy that the Chongqing team ushered in a new page in the history of the team. The 62-year-old Chongqing entrepreneur Yin Mingshan spent 55.8 million yuan to acquire the Chongqing team, and Chongqing football entered the era of Lifan.
In the era of Lifan, the Chongqing team went through ups and downs and ups and downs, but after all, it survived and gradually became a flag representing the southwestern forces on the Chinese football map. The Chongqing team, which has been relegated three times and bottomed out four times, has been dubbed the “lifter” by fans outside the country. Even so, Chongqing fans never give up on this team. Mou Yong told the New Yellow River reporter: “In those years, the team’s performance was unstable, and it was related to the limited investment, and we can all understand it. Chongqing fans have always recognized the spirit of this team. We players are present. They are all very hardworking and unreserved. They all have deep feelings for the city and are willing to fight for Chongqing.”
On the morning of January 5, 2017, the club held a press conference on the transfer of the club at the Sheraton Hotel on Nanbin Road. “Chongqing Lifan Football Club” bid farewell to the historical stage, and “Chongqing Contemporary Lifan Football Club” made its debut. Before that, Lifan Club completed the equity transfer, and Wuhan Dangdai Group took over. Yin Mingshan said emotionally at the press conference: “I was only 62 years old when I took over Chongqing football, and I was not old at that time. But now I am old, and I am already eighty years old. My family members are not very enthusiastic about football. , If I continue to persist, Chongqing football may age like me…”
Wang Xuming, president of the Chongqing Fans Association, also attended the press conference. Wang Xuming said: “Lifan has been relegated and relegated over the years, but I am very fortunate that Chongqing has always had football, and I really want to say thank you to Boss Yin. I also hope that the new boss will not let football leave Chongqing, because we Chongqing fans Know the ball.”
On the afternoon of March 5, 2017, in the first round of the 2017 Chinese Super League season, Chongqing Dangdai Lifan was seated in the Chongqing Olympic Sports Center, ushering in the first round of the Chinese Super League. Chongqing fans played huge posters in the stands to pay tribute to Yin Mingshan and thank him for his 17 years of perseverance and dedication. The poster reads: “One city for one life, one team for one heart.”
Endless regret, nowhere to place love
Regrettably, with the bursting of the Jinyuan football bubble, Chinese football has gradually entered the winter, and the Chongqing team has also encountered a very severe crisis of survival.
The investor Contemporary Group, which is on the verge of bankruptcy, is still unable to guarantee itself, and simply cannot afford the club’s high debt. The club’s equity reform is struggling, and the competent authorities are helpless to the team’s deep predicament. On the morning of May 24, 2022, Chongqing Liangjiang Athletic Football Club officially announced that the team will cease operations.
Seeing this news, Tan Daqing came out of sadness and cried with swollen eyes. He rushed to the club station as soon as possible, wanting to say a final goodbye to this beloved team. Tan Daqing brought a lot of scarves with the words “Fight for Chongqing” and gave them to the young players in the echelon. He told these young players: “The team is gone, but you still have to work hard in the future and play well. “Tan Daqing told the New Yellow River reporter that standing in the club, his heart was full of unspeakable desolation.
Mou Yong’s heart was also filled with sadness. He said that in the past two years, due to the impact of the epidemic, the Chongqing team has not played at home. In fact, Chongqing fans are looking forward to when the league can resume the home and away system, and once again poured into the home court to cheer for their team: “Unfortunately, there will be no chance in the future.”
On the morning of the 24th, Yin Mingshan, who had not appeared for a long time, also appeared at the club to bid farewell to the team. The 84-year-old man couldn’t hold back his tears…
Li Zhangzhu, who once led the Chongqing team to the FA Cup championship, is now the coach of the Shenzhen team. In an interview with the media, Tie Shuai, who is loved by Chongqing fans, said bluntly that he was deeply saddened to see the first Chinese team he coached disappear: “A municipality as big as Chongqing has many fans, if the outside world can give the club With more care and support, the current situation will definitely not happen… In the end, it is definitely not a simple problem of Chongqing football, but only some problems of the whole Chinese football. I hope that Chongqing football will make a comeback soon.”
(Jinan Times New Yellow River Client reporter Yao Zheng)
Original title: Shancheng farewell to Chongqing team: 25 years of long farewell
Instructor on duty: Li Huan