(ECNS) -- During the Dragon Boat Festival holiday, packed stadiums, cheeky city rivalries, and a surge in local tourism marked the third round of Jiangsu’s grassroots “Su-Chao” football league—where viral chants and community pride are turning casual spectators into passionate fans.
Take Sunday’s match between Nanjing City and Wuxi City, for example, where tickets sold out instantly in all three release rounds.
Viral slogans like “No match fixing, only bitter rivals” and “This is about pride and survival” have added a playful edge to the league.
The Nanjing vs. Wuxi matchup, for instance, inspired the popular phrase “Salted Duck vs. Honey Peach”—if Nanjing won, Wuxi's famous peaches would be “salted”; if Wuxi won, Nanjing's iconic salted duck would be “sweetened.” After a 1–1 draw between Suzhou and Wuxi, fans jokingly concluded: “Suzhou saved Taihu Lake, Wuxi kept its airport.”
Unlike traditional matches, this event attracted a significant number of non-football fans.
At a match held in Changzhou City, Mr. Zhang, a father watching the game with his child, said he didn’t really understand the rules, but knew this is a battle for city pride. This model, which deeply integrates football with local culture and tourism, has created an entirely new experience.
According to Liu Tong, deputy director of Jiangsu Provincial Sports Bureau, “Su-Chao” is the province’s first tournament to adopt the “mass participation + city honor” concept. It lowers the barriers typically seen in professional leagues and embraces a “football for all” approach that brings the sport closer to everyday people.
The league has also energized Jiangsu’s cultural and tourism sectors. During matches, the number of night-time visitors to Zhenjiang’s Xijindu scenic spot tripled. The Yangzhou team turned halftime breaks into showcases of local intangible cultural heritage. In Yancheng City, a “birdwatching + football” tour package exceeded 20,000 bookings.
As the tournament heats up, traveling to different cities across Jiangsu Province has become a growing trend, gaining traction on social media and further fueling public enthusiasm for football.
The league kicked off on May 10 and will run for seven months, featuring a total of 85 matches split into regular season and knockout stages. During the regular season, 13 teams representing the 13 cities in Jiangsu play each other once in a round-robin format across 13 rounds. The top eight teams will then advance to a single-elimination knockout stage to determine the final four and ultimately, the champion.
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