GUIYANG, May 3 (Xinhua) -- A friendly match between the Liberia Community Football Team from Africa and the Liaoning Donggang Football Team from China drew attention at the football field of Village Super League in Rongjiang County, southwest China's Guizhou Province on Wednesday night.
It's the first time an African team has played in the Village Super League, dubbed "Cun Chao" in China.
The Village Super League has started to gain popularity in African countries, including Benin and South Africa. The connection between Cun Chao and African countries led to the beginning of the friendship between the small Chinese village and the African teams.
FIRST MATCH
Since this year, international matches have been held at the Village Super League stadium, refreshing spectators and tourists.
The Liberia Community Football Team, consisting of 21 members, was led by officials from the Embassy of Liberia in China. The team members used to play football together and had sound team cooperation, aiming to showcase their skills at the Village Super League.
Moses Barclay, an official of the Liberian Embassy in China for eight years, witnessed the festive scenes of the Village Super League through videos.
"The people here love football, and the atmosphere was very impressive," said Barclay, adding that it was his first visit to Rongjiang, and he hoped the friendly match would bring joy to fans and tourists.
The day before the match, the Liberian Community Football Team visited Dali Dong village in Rongjiang County, experienced ethnic cultures, and sang songs with local villagers.
"It's my first time experiencing the Dong culture, which was very special. The people in the village were very friendly, and I was deeply touched," said Godrich Samwely, a young college student, adding that if he had a chance, he would like to visit Rongjiang again.
"This was a journey of football and friendship," said Jose Jacobs, who has played football for more than 20 years.
Rongjiang has rich and colorful ethnic cultures, and the team members were still working hard to learn, hoping to enhance mutual exchanges and understanding through football, Jacobs added.
CUN CHAO IN AFRICA
This was not the first time Liberian football got in touch with Cun Chao.
Wang Yongjie, head of the new media communication department of Village Super League, said that in March and April 2024, Cun Chao, as a new model of integration and development of modern football and ethnic cultures, was replicated and promoted in the villages of Parakou in Benin of Africa and of Cape Town in South Africa respectively.
At the end of March 2024, on a football field in Belle Cite Village in Benin, where a China-assisted cotton technology project was located, 12 village teams launched the competition named the first edition of the "African Village Super League," which took place on weekends and would last until the end of May.
Shou Xiaoyong, head of the technical team of the Chinese project, said that the tournament not only featured competitions but also included ethnic cultural activities by villagers, including Chinese martial arts performed by Chinese agricultural experts.
At the beginning of this year, Shou returned to China on vacation and learned about the popularity of Cun Chao.
"After returning to Benin, I introduced Cun Chao to local villagers and proposed building local Cun Chao, which received a warm response," said Shou, adding that since the game started, the atmosphere has become stronger, bringing a lot of happiness to the villagers.
FURTHER EXCHANGES
The friendly match with the Liberian team marked the beginning of the friendship between African countries and Rongjiang, said Peng Xixi, head of the operation and management department of Village Super League.
Given the current willingness of the two sides, more African teams would come to and make friends with Rongjiang because of football in the future, Peng added.
Barclay hopes to enhance the friendship between Africa and China through the football match and strengthen mutual in-depth exchanges.
"There are many countries in Africa that love to play football. Through football events, Africa could better connect and unite with Rongjiang and with China," said Barclay, adding that he hoped that more Liberian teams, including its national team, could play football in Rongjiang.
Meanwhile, villagers in Parakou also looked forward to joining Cun Chao in China. Shou said that the villagers hoped their Village Super League could expand outside Africa and bring their teams to compete at China's Village Super League stadium.
"Over the past decade, China has promoted cotton planting technology and helped train local agricultural technicians in Benin," said Shou, adding that the improved living conditions have given local people more needs for recreation.
"We brought them new farming tools, materials, and technologies," said Shou, adding that he hopes Benin and Rongjiang could strengthen people-to-people exchanges and deepen the friendship between China and Benin through football matches. ■