Born from humble beginnings? Missed the professional path? This stage can still fulfill your dream of becoming a national champion.

Reported from Guilin by Nan Nanfa In the championship team of the 2025 National County Football Championship, the Shihezi Town Victory Team of the Eighth Division of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, head coach Zhao Hui is a modest man. During matches, the words he shouts most are "stay calm" and "keep your head up." After the game ends, he always walks at the back of the team, leaving the spotlight to those players fighting hard on the field.

In this championship, Zhao Hui's team won all 7 matches to claim the title. But when asked about the match that caused him the most pressure, Zhao immediately said, "The semifinal against Guangxi Laibin Wuxuan Yuanjiang Concrete Team." In that match, Zhao's team experienced a rollercoaster of leading, being overtaken, and then leveling the score, finally winning through a penalty shootout. That semifinal was also the highest quality match of the entire championship.

Sharing Zhao Hui's view is the team's number 9, Ilizati Ainiwar: "Guangxi's team is very strong. We carefully studied their match videos; their attacking strategies are very diverse, and they have many set-piece tactics. Winning through penalties, I feel we were quite lucky."

The Guangxi Laibin Wuxuan Yuanjiang Concrete Team is the champion of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region’s county-level provincial football league. To participate in this national county football championship, they specially invited the renowned national futsal coach Cai Sheng. In November this year, Cai Sheng led the Chinese middle school representative team to Brazil to compete in the World Middle School Futsal Championship. In Brazil, Cai Sheng faced top-tier futsal teams and broadened his horizons.

Cai Sheng's connection with this team began in 2009. Qin Bingkun, the current president of Wuxuan County Football Association, once played under Cai Sheng’s futsal team. Their mentor-student relationship has extended from professional competitions to social football. Whenever Cai Sheng is available, Qin Bingkun invites him to Wuxuan to coach the county teams. With their shared vision and this bond, Cai Sheng has gradually gained friends and popularity in Wuxuan County. For this championship, Cai personally built the player roster, many of whom are his former students currently studying or working in Guangxi.

Having just led a team in a world competition, Cai Sheng has witnessed the grandeur of international football. "We were placed in the same group as host Brazil and traditional European football powerhouse France. The opponents were very strong. This trip to Brazil gave me a completely new understanding of futsal," Cai said. Seeing the vast world helped him recognize the gap. Although he hasn't coached this team long, knowing most players well allows him to tailor special tactics. For this championship, Cai designed many corner and set-piece plays. Whenever executing a special tactic, he shouts the corresponding number from the technical area. Their equalizing goal in the semifinal came from a front set-piece.

This is Cai Sheng’s first time leading a team in the National County Football Championship, so he did a lot of preparation. "I carefully studied the player list for the championship; nearly half were born between 2005 and 2007, and their technical skills are quite high. This is the result of a decade-long effort developing school football and the rapid growth of grassroots social football in counties over recent years," Cai said. "The development of county football in recent years is crucial for strengthening China’s football grassroots foundation and greatly promotes the future of Chinese futsal. Our futsal still lags behind world-leading countries, so we must strive to catch up, and that effort starts at the grassroots level."

In the 2025 National County Football Championship, the most popular team was the defending champion Jiangsu Taizhou Hailing Team. Players Lu Zhangyu, Lin Yifeng, and Peng Bo all competed with Taizhou in this year’s “Su Super” league and ultimately won the championship. Li Xiaopeng, Hu Jie, and others were core players of last year’s champion team. Li Xiaopeng is currently participating in Taizhou’s selection for next year’s “Su Super” league. "If selected, I still have a chance to compete in next year’s city league," Li Xiaopeng said.

Last year’s national county football championship title, combined with this year’s “Su Super” league championship, has quickly boosted the football atmosphere in Taizhou. Li Xiaopeng said, "I wouldn’t say last year’s championship was decisive, but it definitely greatly promoted the development of grassroots football in Taizhou." Compared to last year’s championship, Li Xiaopeng believes the level of teams this year has improved noticeably. "Teams are closer in strength, and the pace of matches is faster. From the group stage, many teams studied us carefully and made targeted plans. Although we won all group matches, the pressure was clearly greater than last year."

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Li Xiaopeng aims to defend the title, but he knows every team reaching the championship stage is a provincial final contender and none are easy opponents. Gu Changzheng, chairman of the Hailing District Football Association, who traveled with the team, was gathering information on potential knockout opponents in the morning and witnessed the defending champion miss the quarterfinals in the afternoon. Taizhou Hailing was eliminated by Shuangyang District Fengyun Football Team from Changchun, Jilin. This team is participating in the national county football championship for the first time and includes former Changchun Yatai youth goalkeeper Wang Yubo and ex-Tianjin Teda youth player Yang Jiahe.

Wang Yubo, turning 20 on January 5 next year, trained with Yatai’s youth team for seven years and is now studying at a university in Jilin. Yang Jiahe, 23, trained in Tianjin Teda’s youth academy and, after leaving professional training, continued his studies at Northeast Normal University. Compared to Taizhou Hailing’s Lu Zhangyu from Shanghai Shenhua youth and Hu Jie from Haimen Kedi Yuan youth, Wang and Yang are younger and more daring. "When the coach told us we drew the defending champions in the first knockout round, all players got excited," Wang Yubo said. "I know they’re strong. I’ve watched interviews with their ‘Su Super’ players. They have dreams, and so do we. At that moment, we just wanted to send them home."

When the final score settled at 6-5, Wang Yubo and his teammates erupted in celebration, while Li Xiaopeng’s eyes showed regret, and Gu Changzheng was silent for a long time, leaving behind two phrases: "That’s football," and "We’ll come back next year." The confidence behind "We’ll come back next year" stems from the impact the national county football championship and city league double titles have had on Taizhou’s social football. Wang Jinxing, who traveled from Taizhou to watch the games in Guilin, knows the team well. He mentioned that Hu Jie regularly works in youth training and has developed some promising talents in recent years.

"After winning two consecutive championships in two years, Taizhou’s social football atmosphere has steadily improved. School football fields have started to open to the public, more people are playing, many have put down their drinks to take to the field, their health has improved, and the football foundation is getting better," fan Wang Jinxing said.

All coming from professional club youth teams, Lu Zhangyu, Li Xiaopeng, Hu Jie, Wang Yubo, and Yang Jiahe all left the professional or elite football system with regrets. If before they could only pursue their dreams in informal fields or amateur competitions, now the county football platform established by the China Football Development Foundation not only gives them official competition opportunities but also a chance to advance to higher stages like the city league. Perhaps next year, familiar faces will appear on the city league pitch.

In fact, the national county football championship features not only "Su Super" players. The team from Golmud City, Qinghai, includes several who have played in the "Qing Super," and two teams from Shandong Province have players who have appeared in the "Qilu Super." Although the number of players moving between county football and city leagues or club competitions has yet to scale up, as county football’s coverage and influence grow, social football talents appearing on the county stage will also see their profiles rise accordingly.

To ensure county football retains its grassroots nature, the China Football Development Foundation has set restrictions on participating players: those registered in the last three years in the Chinese Football Association’s third-tier professional leagues or second-tier futsal leagues are not allowed to compete. Shuangyang District Fengyun Team’s head coach Yu Xiaokai strongly agrees with this rule, saying, "County football as an official competition is very pure. It provides our players a chance to develop quickly in a relatively fair environment."

The player restriction rule opened a door for young players like Wang Yubo and Yang Jiahe, who have professional youth experience, allowing them to maintain grassroots player status while continuing to pursue their dreams within the social football competition system. Xie Zhiliang, captain of the runner-up Henan Xinyang Xixian Zhongxin Football Team, who participated in the Xinyang City National Games mass group football competition this year, believes the county football’s three-tier competition system enables player interchange between city leagues and county football events, and also helps grassroots players find pathways to various other social competitions. "Social football itself is a broad system; whether county football or city leagues, everyone with a dream can find their place," he said.