Football fever has captured the imagination of fans in China's most talked-about grassroots football league in the eastern Jiangsu Province, as the highly-competitive community-driven matches unite passionate spectators to proudly cheer on their hometown teams.
Known as the most-watched football league in China during the summer season, the provincial competition features 13 teams from across Jiangsu, with matches running from May through to November.
As the season heats up, tickets for almost every match have been sold out as boisterous fans turn up to eagerly show their support for their favorite teams.
The enthusiasm of attendees was not even deterred by a huge bout of rainfall which hit the provincial capital Nanjing on Sunday night, with a crowd of nearly 16,000 still showing up to catch the action. Fans were rewarded as the home team got on the scoresheet after just 90 seconds.
"This is the first time I have ever watched a football match and the atmosphere here is so exciting. Everything here, from the DJ in the stadium, to the passionate fans, is so good. The Nanjing team gave us a surprisingly good performance, scoring just a minute and a half into the game," said a spectator.
As the league draws more attention from football fans across China, tickets for the matches are proving to be hot property, with organizers now looking at shifting future matches to larger venues to accommodate larger crowds.
"The number of the spectators has far exceeded our expectations. Previously, we estimated that about 10,000 fans may come to watch some games, but the 3,000 tickets that we initially issued for the third round of the matches sold out in just two minutes. So, we can see the tickets are in quite high demand. For the next step, we will further improve the conditions of the venues, so that more fans can come watch in-person," said Wang Xuhong, a research fellow at the Nanjing Sports Bureau.
Football fever hits Jiangsu as grassroots league draws out fans
