The wildly popular football tournament in Chinese rural villages, the Village Super League -- also known as Cun Chao -- completed this year's championship match in Rongjiang County in southwest China's Guizhou Province on Saturday evening, with the football team from Zhongcheng Village emerging victorious.
This is the third year for this grassroots tournament. Over eight months, 108 village teams from across the region competed in 362 matches, culminating in this climactic showdown.
The final pitted Zhongcheng Village, a seasoned contender, against Longquanjing Village, a relatively new team formed just last year. The match lived up to expectations, with both sides displaying exceptional skill, passion, and relentless determination under the lights of a packed stadium.
For most of the game, defenses held strong, and the score remained locked at 0-0 into the 80th minute.
Then, in a dramatic turn, the Zhongcheng Village team broke the deadlock with a powerful goal, igniting their supporters. Just two minutes later, the Longquanjing Village team responded with a stunning goal off a corner kick, leveling the score and forcing a penalty shootout.
Under immense pressure, the Zhongcheng Village team held their composure from the spot, securing a 4-2 victory and claiming the 2025 Village Super League title.
"I'm so excited and incredibly happy. I hope we can keep striving next year, continue playing in the Village Super League, and fight for our dreams," said Dong Yongheng, captain of the Zhongcheng Village football team.
The Village Super League has become far more than just a football tournament. Since its repechage on July 25 following disruptions caused by devastating floods earlier this year, the event has drawn over 960,000 tourist visits to Rongjiang County, providing a major boost to local tourism and the rural economy.
Local authorities have seized the momentum, developing 13 themed zones around the "Cun Chao" brand, including the rural cultural and tourism experience area, resettlement communities, and the Yueliang Mountain scenic area.
By integrating these zones into a 30-minute economic circle within the county, officials aim to transform the tournament's viral momentum into sustainable and long-term economic growth.
Zhongcheng Village team wins China's Village Super League final
China's two major power grid operators -- the State Grid Corporation of China (State Grid) and China Southern Power Grid (CSG) -- reported a surge in investment in the first quarter of 2026, underscoring efforts to strengthen infrastructure construction and support high-quality socioeconomic development in China.
The State Grid said it completed fixed-asset investment worth 129 billion yuan (about 18.77 billion U.S. dollars) in the first three months of this year, up 37 percent the corresponding period of the previous year. The spending has driven more than 250 billion yuan (36 billion U.S. dollars) of investment across the wider industrial chain.
Key projects such as the Panxi ultra-high-voltage (UHV) alternating current (AC) line and the Anhui-Hubei back-to-back direct current (DC) project have seen ground broken for their construction, while several west-to-east power transmission projects have been upgraded.
Investment in connecting renewable energy generation to the grid was reported to have exceeded 10 billion yuan (1.45 billion U.S. dollars) from January to March, a year-on-year rise of more than 50 percent.
The CSG also reported robust growth in investment in the three-month period, with fixed-asset investment reaching 38.45 billion yuan (5.58 billion U.S. dollars), up about 50 percent from a year earlier.
Among its achievements, the company completed and commissioned 80 key projects, including the 220 kV cross-sea power grid interconnection project, which was officially put into operation on March 20. The project ended years of grid isolation on the Weizhou Island in south China by linking it to the main power system of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.
The construction of 17 other major energy projects, including one linking the power grid of the Xizang Autonomous Region in southwest China with that of Guangdong Province in south China, is advancing rapidly. These projects are expected to bolster regional industries, the maritime economy, digital collaboration and the transition to green energy.
"By accelerating major project construction, investment during the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-2030) is expected to approach 1 trillion yuan (145 billion U.S. dollars), driving a further 2 trillion yuan (290 billion U.S. dollars) of investment across upstream and downstream industries," said Dong Yanle, deputy general manager of the Engineering Construction Department under the China Southern Power Grid.
China ramps up power grid investment in January-March to boost growth
