China grassroots football league kicks off cultural tourism boom

NANJING, June 14 (Xinhua) -- Wang Lin is not a football fan. But this weekend, she will watch a highly anticipated basement battle between her home team from Wuxi, a city in east China's Jiangsu Province, and their neighbors from Changzhou.

"Everyone -- whether it's people online or my colleagues -- is talking about this match!" Wang said. "I want to experience the electrifying atmosphere firsthand and enjoy a weekend getaway at the same time."

The match is not part of a professional football league, but a fixture in the fourth round of a wildly popular amateur tournament featuring 13 teams, each representing a city in Jiangsu Province.

Its name, the Su Super League, is a playful nod to the English Premier League and the Chinese Football Super League. It has drawn over 190,000 live spectators, with online viewership soaring into the hundreds of millions. Attendance has even surpassed that of some established professional leagues.

Yet, unlike its professional counterparts, the Su Super League draws its players from all walks of life -- high schoolers, couriers, IT workers and more. "They work by day and train by night," said Liu Tong, deputy director of the Jiangsu sports bureau.

"This is a new model of grassroots football that brings the game closer to the general public," Liu added.

What makes the Su Super League particularly engaging is its vibrant cultural identity. Teams take their nicknames from the specialties of their city: Wuxi is symbolized by honey peaches, while the provincial capital of Nanjing by its famed salted duck.

"It's all in good fun," Wang noted. "And these grassroots slogans and traditions help us rediscover our city identities. More and more casual fans are becoming passionate supporters."

The Su Super League has become a carnival of local pride and sporting delight, where laughter, banter and hometown loyalty intermingle in the stands and online. And this fervor has spilled far beyond the pitch, sparking a surge in local tourism and cultural consumption.

"Even when the team loses, the city wins it all," a viral social media comment reads, capturing the spirit of the football phenomenon.

Changzhou, despite a string of defeats, has found unexpected fame, buoyed by its lovable dinosaur mascot -- a nod to the city's famous dinosaur park -- and endless jokes on social media.

"We're working overtime to produce dinosaur-themed football plush toys," said Lu Qidi, an executive at Changzhou's dinosaur park. "The first batch of 20,000 will hit the market soon."

This surge in fan engagement has also turbocharged the local tourism and hospitality industries. According to data from leading services platform Meituan, bookings for scenic attractions in Jiangsu soared 305 percent year on year from June 2 to 8. Searches for football bars in the province spiked 407 percent, and searches for Xuzhou barbecue restaurants rose 197 percent in the first week of June. "Children's football training" was also a trending topic that same week.

During the third round of matches, which coincided with the recent Dragon Boat Festival holiday, six host cities saw intercity culture and tourism spending via UnionPay rise 14.63 percent. The province welcomed 12.41 million visitors and recorded 4.69 billion yuan (about 653 million U.S. dollars) in tourism revenues.

Cities across Jiangsu are embracing the tourism potential of the football craze and rolling out the red carpet for fans, providing them with exclusive perks.

Wuxi has announced promotions such as buy-one-get-one-free honey peach sales, free shopping mall parking, and 40-percent-off taxi rides. Many famed water towns in Suzhou have waived entrance fees for match ticket holders. And Yangzhou is offering free admission to state-run attractions for Jiangsu residents on home match weekends, with bundled discounts for accommodation, dining and performances.

Nanjing has even launched Jiangsu's first direct high-speed train route exclusively for away-game football fans, offering a convenient round-trip service to its rival city of Huai'an, along with discounts on second-class tickets.

"Sports events now drive not only massive crowds, but also the targeted consumption of our tourism offerings," said Wu Guoping, chairman of a cultural tourism development company in Wuxi. "This is pushing cities to innovate and upgrade their cultural tourism products and services."

A pro-consumption action plan that China released in March calls for the expansion of consumption in the culture, sports and tourism industries, and for support for local authorities to hold more high-quality and distinctive sports events.

According to China's 14th five-year plan for sports development, the country's total sports-related consumer spending is projected to exceed 2.8 trillion yuan by 2025.

Wu noted that the Su Super League may be amateur in skill level, but its impact is undeniably professional. "It is demonstrating positive effects that transcend sports economics alone."

"The ticket-based perks are weaving together sports, culture and commerce," said Si Zengchuo, a professor at Jiangsu Normal University. "Integrating matches with local travel and shopping creates a one-stop experience that keeps visitors staying longer and shopping more."

Li Chuan, deputy director of Jiangsu's culture and tourism department, emphasized that the league's momentum presents a prime opportunity, particularly as the summer travel peak approaches.

"We need to leverage this momentum and roll out more family-friendly sports tourism packages, blending vacation, leisure and culinary experiences," Li said. ■