City league to vitalize soccer in Northeast

Soccer fans in Northeast China are eagerly anticipating the launch of the Northeast Football City League, or "Dongbeichao". The event, jointly organized by the sports bureaus of Liaoning, Jilin, Heilongjiang provinces and the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, is set to kick off on May 23, featuring eight city representative teams.

Officials said the league aligns with the region's peak cultural tourism season and aims to boost soccer revival while promoting the integration of culture, sports, tourism, and commerce through an innovative schedule and strict participation standards.

"The event emphasizes city attributes, requiring each team to deeply root itself in its name, home ground operations, and community connections to strengthen citizens' sense of identity and honor," said Cao Yang, director of the Liaoning provincial sports bureau. Teams from Shenyang and Dalian in Liaoning, Changchun and Yanbian in Jilin, Harbin and Jixi in Heilongjiang, as well as Hohhot and Tongliao in Inner Mongolia, will compete under their city banners.

Last summer's "phenomenal" Jiangsu Super League, or "Suchao", drew nearly 30,000 spectators per game on average and more than 2 billion live broadcast views. According to the Department of Commerce of Jiangsu province, every 1 yuan ($0.14) of ticket revenue generated 7.3 yuan in surrounding consumption.

In August, the General Office of the State Council issued opinions on promoting high-quality development of the sports industry, proposing the cultivation of world-class sports events and setting a goal for the sector's total scale to exceed 7 trillion yuan by 2030.

"The Northeast region has a broad base of grassroots soccer, a complete history of youth training systems, and a rich fan culture," said Shao Kai, director of the institute of sports science at Shenyang Sport University.

He added that the league is the first cross-provincial mass sports event in China, filling the gap for regular cross-regional soccer leagues and promoting coordinated development of sports, culture, and the economy.

The event will feature simultaneous opening ceremonies in four regional capital cities — Shenyang, Changchun, Harbin, and Hohhot — followed by the opening matches. "This arrangement will create promotional synergy, expand the event's coverage, and quickly ignite audience enthusiasm," said Cao.

The league will follow a single round-robin format, with a regular season from May 23 to Aug 15 and a knockout stage from Sept 5 to Oct 1. Matches will be scheduled on weekends, with one round per week at most.

Participation rules are strict: players must be Chinese male citizens aged 16 to 40 and meet at least one of the conditions of household registration, academic enrollment, local residence, or social security in the representative city. Players from the first teams of professional clubs in the Chinese Super League, China League One, and China League Two are prohibited, including those previously registered.

"The rules leave the stage for local soccer enthusiasts and nonprofessional players," said Cao. "The age limit ensures vitality and encourages young players to engage in social soccer, providing backup forces for Northeast soccer."

Each team must have a fixed stadium with natural grass or artificial turf, complete lighting for night games and television broadcasts, and a spectator capacity generally not less than 20,000.