China's amateur football phenomenon, epitomised by the Village Super League (Cun Chao) in Guizhou province, has drawn massive crowds and inspired copycat leagues nationwide. However, experts remain sceptical that these grassroots tournaments will translate into a talent pipeline for the professional game, citing China's top-down approach to football governance.
Viral Success of Cun Chao
The Cun Chao league in Rongjiang county, Guizhou, became an unexpected viral hit in 2023, attracting tens of millions of social media views. Tourists flocked to the rural area as crowds of over 10,000 watched farmers, construction workers, and students represent local village teams. The league's fourth season, which began in January, featured 137 village teams. Former England striker Michael Owen even participated in a match in Rongjiang in 2024, scoring twice in a 4-3 loss for local side Rongjiang Niubi.
According to May, a Rongjiang local whose family helps run Cun Chao, many older residents did not know Owen, David Beckham, or Cristiano Ronaldo. However, she noted, "What left a deep impression was watching him play football with the local players."
National Phenomenon and Government Support
The league's success has inspired local governments across China to launch similar amateur leagues. Amateur football has become a national phenomenon, drawing larger attendances than many European professional leagues. Chinese President Xi Jinping praised the movement in his 2024 new year's speech, saying it "presents a vibrant and flourishing China to the world."
Rowan Simons, a China football expert who founded one of the country's first amateur networks in the early 2000s, noted, "It's quite remarkable that China is latching on to amateur football 150 years after the rest of the world."
Scepticism Over Grassroots Development
Despite the popularity, experts doubt the amateur leagues will develop talent for China's professional game. Mark Dreyer, founder of China Sports Insider, said, "The more successful it becomes, the more it's going to get co-opted by the state and the football association and the sports ministry. Then all of their bad decisions are going to start impacting these more organic leagues."
China's men's national team languishes 91st in the FIFA world rankings and failed to qualify for a sixth consecutive World Cup in 2024. Dreyer attributed this to China's top-down approach: "Football needs to be bottom-up, but China is fundamentally a top-down country. Everything stems from the top, so they focus on the elites instead of focusing on the base of the pyramid."
Limited Pathway to Professional Football
The amateur leagues are not part of a larger pyramid connected to China's professional game, limiting their potential as a talent pipeline. Simons cautioned, "There still isn't a pathway to go from amateur through to professional." He added that regional governments created these leagues primarily for cultural and tourism benefits, not for football development.
Yuming, a 24-year-old fan of Chinese Super League club Beijing Guo'an, said the local feel is the biggest attraction. "It was easy for people to jump in since the [geographical] allegiance is already there." However, he acknowledged the matches are accompanied by non-footballing activities like food markets and half-time shows featuring local cultural icons.
Record Attendance and Spectacle
The most successful Cun Chao clone is the Jiangsu Football City League (Su Chao), which consists of 13 teams. Its final in November 2024 saw 62,329 fans pack into Nanjing's Olympic Sports Centre, just shy of China's domestic club match record of 65,769. The league's average attendance in later rounds exceeded 30,000, compared to Ligue 1's average of about 27,500 for the entire season.
Dreyer described football as almost a "sideshow" in these events, serving as hyperlocal celebrations of ethnic heritage, food, and culture. He agreed that "anything that gets people playing or watching football is a fantastic thing."
Local Appeal and Community Connection
May captured the essence of Cun Chao's appeal: "These [players] are our own people; it all happens right here among us, and they're all our relatives and friends. Since the players are so closely connected to us, we pay much more attention than to the Chinese Super League, or even the World Cup."
The Chinese Football Association did not respond to requests for comment by time of publication.
