Yongzhou FC crowned champions of the 2025 Hunan Football League in 27th, Dec 2025
Having lived overseas for many years, I have long been used to watching the fireworks of my hometown through a screen. In the autumn and winter of 2025, a story about the Yongzhou Football Team from Hunan moved me and countless overseas Chinese to tears across mountains and seas. Without top stars or professional stadiums, a group of young men wrote a legendary underdog story in the Human League with their purest passion. Moreover, with the warmth spanning thousands of miles, the name “Yongzhou” has been filled with the most touching Chinese warmth.
Championship Victory Parade
Heroes Arise from the Rough Pitch
I first noticed the Yongzhou Team through jokes circulating in overseas Chinese communities — “This team of students with an average age of less than 20 is probably here just to make up the numbers.” Their home stadium, built in 1992, was dilapidated with overgrown weeds and worn-out stands, mocked by netizens as a “beggar’s stadium.” They could only train at night, had to travel back overnight after away games, and were so short of funds that every expense had to be carefully calculated. At that time, many people thought it was just another helpless story of grassroots football.
Citizens lined the streets, and Yongzhou was filled with excitement
But on the field, these young men in blue jerseys burst out with incredible strength. They came from two goals down to draw in stoppage time in their first game, pulled off a last-gasp winner with an overhead kick against a strong opponent in the knockout stage, their goalkeeper saved consecutive crucial penalties in a shootout, and a header sealed the victory in the final. They were students in class during the day and warriors on the green field at night, shattering all doubts with their belief of “never stopping charging.” When the final whistle blew and images of the young men embracing and crying reached me, I suddenly understood that this “wild pitch” nurtured the hottest patriotic hearts and the perseverance etched in the bones of the Chinese people.
A Billboard Across Thousands of Miles, Love Transcends Mountains and Rivers
The legend of the Yongzhou Team not only ignited the Xiaoxiang land but also touched the hearts of football fans far away. An anonymous Mr. Feng from Suzhou, unable to buy a ticket for the final, traveled all the way to Yongzhou’s second viewing venue and was deeply moved by the passionate atmosphere of tens of thousands of people cheering remotely. This unadulterated love moved him to spend 10,000 Chinese yuan to erect an 18-meter-long billboard at the entrance of Songjiazhou Bridge in Yongzhou, with only five words inscribed: “A Gift from Suzhou Netizens.”
Football fans from other provinces donated advertising boards in support of Yongzhou.
When photos of the billboard spread online, I saw countless resonating voices on overseas Chinese forums. This was not a commercial sponsorship or a deliberate hype, but a tribute from one fan to another’s passion. Soon, netizens from Nanjing, Taizhou, Nantong and other cities followed suit, and billboards lined the streets of Yongzhou, turning cross-provincial warmth into a prairie fire. This passion and warmth also brought Yongzhou into the national spotlight — China Central Television (CCTV) reported on the Yongzhou Division of the Hunan Football League five times successively. Programs such as “Newsweek” and “News Probe” on the News Channel made special trips to interview and launch specials including “Hanging Tickets to Watch Hunan Football League” and “The Hunan Football League in a Small City.” Among them, “The Hunan Football League in a Small City” lasted 45 minutes, a rare length for covering a grassroots football story in a small city. CCTV’s focus was like a spotlight, drawing national attention to this land in Xiaoxiang. Thousands of self-media bloggers also flocked to Yongzhou to check in, making the old stadium, Songjiazhou Bridge, Liuzi Street and other places popular check-in spots. They used their cameras to record Yongzhou’s football passion and daily life, making the story of the small city go viral online. At that moment, I deeply realized that football is more than just a competition; it is a spiritual resonance across regions, and this resonance has given Yongzhou, a small city, the power to touch people’s hearts.
Warmth in Food, The Temperature of Yongzhou in Flavors
Warmth never stops at slogans. After the Suzhou billboard was erected, the people of Yongzhou responded to this kindness in the simplest way — fruit farmers from Daoxian County loaded trucks of sweet Daoxian navel oranges, paired with intangible cultural heritage handicrafts “Dragon Boat Dolls,” and sent them to Jiangsu across thousands of miles; housewives cooked Dong’an Chicken and Yongzhou Blood Duck overnight. These delicacies carrying southern Hunan flavors traveled far with the warmth of daily life. Without gorgeous packaging or deliberate promotion, they just gave the best of their hometown to those who understood this love.
Watching videos of Jiangsu netizens smiling as they held navel oranges and squinting with delight while tasting Dong’an Chicken, I seemed to taste that freshness and sweetness too. This was not a simple exchange of favors, but a unique expression of Chinese warmth, a heart-to-heart connection linked by the warmth of daily life. The flavors of Yongzhou, along with this warmth, spread farther away, making me couldn’t help but say to my foreign friends around me: Look, this is a small Chinese city, with the purest passion and the most touching warmth of life.
Invitation from Xiaoxiang, Come to Enjoy the Beautiful Season
Today, when people talk about Yongzhou, it is no longer just the legend of “winning the championship on a wild pitch.” CCTV’s multiple reports and in-depth specials have made the perseverance and warmth of this small city known to the whole country; self-media’s rush to check in has made every scenery and flavor of Yongzhou worthy of being remembered. Here, there is the thousand-year-old cultural heritage of Lingling Ancient City, the primitive charm of Jiangyong Yao Village, the ink-wash artistic conception of Liuzi Street, and more importantly, a group of enthusiastic and sincere people. The fans who climbed trees to watch the games, the netizens who became “online supervisors” to pay attention to the stadium renovation, and the ordinary people who sent food across thousands of miles together constitute the most vivid background of Yongzhou.
Yongzhou opens 38 major scenic attractions to visitors nationwide with free admission.
As an overseas Chinese, I sincerely hope that this love and warmth spanning mountains and seas can let more foreign friends know about Yongzhou. Come and visit here — see the green field that witnessed miracles, taste the Dong’an Chicken and Yongzhou Blood Duck full of daily warmth, walk along the ancient streets, and feel the perseverance and tenderness of this small city. There are no noisy neon lights here, but the most sincere friendship; no top scenic spots, but the most touching stories.
The green field is silent, but warmth lasts forever. I am particularly grateful to Danish RoyalPress for covering this touching story, which has allowed the charm of Yongzhou to reach more corners of the world beyond China. The story of Yongzhou is still continuing, and this small city hidden in the depths of Xiaoxiang is waiting for visitors from afar with the warmest attitude.
(Written by: Lingyan Xiao 肖灵艳 Photo Source: Internet)
