It is no secret that China wants to be a powerhouse in football, especially after President Xi openly announced his football dream for China: to be the best team in Asia by 2030 and the best in the world by 2050. That football dream was also formulated as an official state goal in 2016.
中国想要成为足球强国已经不是什么秘密了，特别是在习主席公开宣布了中国的足球梦想：到2030年成为亚洲最好的球队，到2050年成为世界最好的球队之后，这个足球梦想也被制定出来了。 作为 2016 年的官方国家目标。
Part of this huge football revolution is the Chinese Super League (CSL), formerly known as the Chinese Jia-A League, which has been running since 2004. Initially contested by 12 teams in its inaugural season, the league has expanded to 16 teams today. One of the teams that has experienced growth in the Chinese football system is the newly promoted Qingdao West Coast FC.
这场巨大的足球革命的一部分就是中超联赛（CSL），其前身为中国甲A联赛，自2004年开始举办。首个赛季最初有12支球队参加，如今联赛已扩大到16支球队 。 升班马青岛西海岸足球俱乐部是中国足球体系中经历成长的球队之一。
Qingdao West Coast FC was established in 2007 in the eastern Shandong Province of China. Qingdao, popularly known as a City of Football, is also home to two other huge football clubs, Qingdao Red Lions (Division One) and Qingdao Hainiu (CSL). The club is currently playing in the first tier for the first time after gaining promotions from the National League to the second division, and from the first division to the highest level of football in China.
青岛西海岸足球俱乐部于2007年在中国东部山东省成立。 青岛素有“足球之城”之称，也是另外两家大型足球俱乐部青岛红狮（甲级）和青岛海牛（中超）的所在地。 目前，这是俱乐部从国联赛升级到乙级联赛、继续升到甲级联赛，一直升级到中国足球最高级别联赛后首次参加中超联赛。
While writing this article, Qingdao West Coast is in the 10th position of the League table. It’s not a bad outing for a team that is tasting the cream of the crop for the first time. However, competing against some of the biggest and more experienced clubs, such as Shanghai Port, Shanghai Shenhua, and Beijing Guoan, the team with just a few months of top-tier experience has to work their socks off for the results. To know the team better, Junpiter Futbol visited the team in Qingdao.
在撰写本文时，青岛西海岸目前排名联赛第 10 位。 对于一个第一次品尝到精华的团队来说，这并不是一次糟糕的郊游。 然而，面对上海海港、上海申花、北京国安等一些规模较为庞大、经验更丰富的俱乐部，这支只有几个月顶级联赛经验的球队必须全力以赴才能取得好成绩。 为了更好地了解球队，郡比特.足球 （Junpiter Futbol）前往青岛参观了球队
Photos: Junpiter Futbol / JT
While we were nervous about our first visit to the Chinese Super League, the great hospitality extended by the host, Qingdao West Coast, put us at ease. The moment we arrived at the Qingdao Jiadong International Airport, a club official was already at the Arrival hall hours in advance to welcome us and pick us up. In addition, the club took care of all our accommodation arrangements, daily transfers from venue to venue, and literally all the meals!
这是我们第一次参观中超联赛，我们必定有些紧张，但东道主青岛西海岸的热情接待让我们安心了许多。 当我们抵达青岛胶东国际机场的时候，俱乐部的工作人员已经提前几个小时到达大厅迎接我们。 此外，俱乐部还负责我们所有的住宿安排、每天从一个场地到另一个场地的接送，以及所有的膳食！
In the past decade, numerous news and reports about Chinese football have been marred by corruption cases, creating a negative impression of the sport. However, our recent visit to Qingdao West Coast has completely altered our perspective. This trip has rekindled our interest in Chinese football and restored our faith in it, thanks to the sincerity and genuine effort we witnessed. Additionally, through the club, we have gained a deeper understanding of the Chinese Super League (CSL), which many of us were previously unfamiliar with.
过去十年，中国足球的新闻和报道中充斥着腐败案件，给足球留下了负面印象。然而，我们最近对青岛西海岸的访问彻底改变了我们的看法。这次的采访重新点燃了我们对中国足球的兴趣，也让我们恢复了对它的信心，这要归功于我们目睹青岛西海岸的真诚和努力。此外，通过俱乐部，我们对中超联赛（CSL）有了更深入的了解，而且也学到了很多可能在我们东南亚区的足球发烧友都不熟悉这个联赛。
Just when we thought we should be the only ones not familiar with CSL, the club was comfortable admitting that they were not familiar with CSL in the first place. In 2021, they were still in Division Two, and in two years, they gained promotion to Division One and eventually to the Chinese Super League. According to the Club’s Chairman, Mr. Xu, everything developed too fast! However, Mr Xu and his team spared no effort to ensure the club was ready for the new CSL season. The club hired many new full-time staff to take on various new roles in business development, media, community engagement, dietician, and many more to meet the demands of a professionally run football club.
正当我们以为我们应该是唯一不熟悉中超的人时，俱乐部却坦然地承认他们一开始也不熟悉中超。 2021年，他们还在乙级联赛，两年后，他们升入甲级联赛，并最终冲超成功。 据俱乐部投资人徐主席说，一切发展得太快了！ 然而，徐先生和他的团队不遗余力地确保俱乐部为新赛季的中超做好准备。 该俱乐部聘请了许多新的全职员工，在业务发展、媒体、社区参与、营养师等方面担任各种新角色，以满足专业运营的足球俱乐部的需求。
Photos courtesy of CSL / Qingdao West Coast
One unique arrangement in the club was the duo role of Ge Zhen, a seasoned footballer and the Deputy General Manager of the club. The 37-year-old defender has played nearly 400 matches at all levels of the domestic league. Although he does not sit at the office desk during the non-training hours, he is the players’ voice and key personnel on how the club should be run based on his years of experience playing at the highest level. We have never met such a unique duo role of a player, especially at such a high level, but it is inevitable that with the right personnel in the correct position, the team as a whole will benefit.
俱乐部的一项独特安排是由经验丰富的足球运动员葛振和俱乐部副总经理组成的双重角色。 这位37岁的后卫已经在国内各级联赛踢了近400场比赛。 尽管非训练时间他并不坐在办公桌前，但他凭借多年在最高级别比赛的经验，为球员代言，也是俱乐部如何运营的关键人员。 我们从未见过如此独特的球员双人角色，尤其是在如此高水平的情况下，但不可避免的是，将合适的人员放在正确的位置上，整个球队都会受益。
Interestingly, do you even know there is a regulation in the CSL that a “year-1” club like Qingdao West Coast is not allowed to sell its jerseys in its maiden year in the CSL? And if you look at the rest of the football clubs, all of them have almost identical Nike jersey designs except probably the more “senior” clubs like Beijing Guoan, Shanghai Shenhua, etc., which might have some additional design details on their jerseys.
有趣的是，你是否知道中超联赛有一项规定，像青岛西海岸这样的“一年级”俱乐部在中超首年不允许出售球衣？ 如果你看看其他的足球俱乐部，除了像北京国安、上海申花等更“资深”的俱乐部，他们的球衣上可能有一些额外的设计细节，所有这些俱乐部的球衣设计几乎都是相同的。
This is a multi-year sponsorship deal between Nike and CSL since 2012, and all the clubs will be donning Nike jerseys, a kind of uniform design catered to all the clubs playing in CSL Chinese. The latest exclusive deal signed is for 2019-2029. This concept is similar to Japan’s J.League, which started in 1995 when all the clubs donned the Mizuno brand. It is a holistic concept to create a balanced, colourful and well-designed jersey for each club to give the league a better image. The only difference is that Nike has a decade-long deal with CSL. As for the no-selling of jerseys in the club’s maiden season in the CSL is a commercial deal between Nike and CSL.
这是耐克与中超自2012年起签订的多年赞助协议，所有俱乐部都将穿上耐克球衣，这是一种适合所有参加中超联赛的俱乐部的队服设计。 最新签署的独家协议有效期为 2019-2029 年。 感觉这个概念与1995年开始的日本J联赛类似，当时所有俱乐部都使用美津浓 （Mizuno）品牌。 为每个俱乐部打造平衡、色彩丰富、设计精良的球衣，从而赋予联赛更好的形象，是一个整体的理念。 唯一的区别是耐克与中超签订了长达十年的合同。 至于俱乐部在中超首个赛季不出售球衣，是耐克与中超之间的商业协议。
Photos: Junpiter Futbol / JT
During our stay in Qingdao, we also had the opportunity to visit one of their academy centres in the city centre, Song Jia Community Football Centre. The club has a few academy centres in the city where they conduct daily afternoon training for young footballers ranging from as young as 10 years old up to 21 years old. A quick chat with the academy coaches also revealed that the various age groups will have daily training from Monday to Friday, followed by a match or a friendly one on the weekend. Unlike those private football academies, Qingdao West Coast does not collect fees from young talents.
在青岛期间，我们还有机会参观了他们位于市中心的青训中心之一，宋佳社区足球中心。 该俱乐部在该市设有几个青训中心，每天为 10 岁到 21 岁的年轻足球运动员进行下午训练。 与青训教练的交谈还透露，各个年龄段的球员将在周一至周五进行日常训练，然后在周末进行一场比赛或一场友谊赛。 与那些私立足球学院不同，青岛西海岸不对青少年球员收取费用。
Lastly, the football trip will not be complete if we do not catch a CSL match! And luck was definitely on our side, as our visit was entertained by Qingdao West Coast hosting the defending CSL champion, Shanghai Port. The current number-2 club in the CSL table is led by China International’s Wu Lei, who’s also the current leading goal scorer in the CSL.
最后，如果来到足球之城却不看中超比赛，足球之旅就不完整了！ 幸运之神眷顾了我们，青岛西海岸队主场迎战中超卫冕冠军上海海港队。 目前中超排名第二的俱乐部由中国国家队的武磊领衔，他也是目前中超进球最多的球员。
For such an overseas football trip, we typically request to be on the pitch side covering the League match as a Photographer. However, due to the unique CSL regulation, we were not allowed to do so, as the photography coverage is exclusively outsourced to a private entity handling the photography coverage. Even individual club photographers are not allowed to use their own photos for any official posts. The restriction of photography coverage and sharing is a massive loss of opportunity for CSL and Chinese football. Nonetheless, we respect the rules and regulations set out by CSL for their football.
对于这样的海外足球之旅，我们通常会要求以摄影师的身份在球场边报道联赛。然而，由于中超联赛的独特规定，我们无法这样做，因为摄影报道完全外包给负责摄影报道的私人实体。即使是个别俱乐部摄影师也不允许在任何官方帖子中使用自己的照片。对摄影报道和分享的限制对中超联赛和中国足球来说是一个巨大的机会损失。尽管如此，我们尊重中超联赛为足球制定的规则和规定。
Photos courtesy of CSL / Qingdao West Coast
Back to the match, and as expected, the visiting team took control most of the game with their swift attacking in the attacking third. But the home team did not give the opponent an easy run for their money, either. Two goals from China International, Allan gave the home crowd a good reason to cheer, and the 8,000 spectators at the Guzhengou University Stadium, including us at the Box Office, were treated to an eight-goal thriller! Final score: Qingdao West Coast 3, Shanghai Port 5.
回到比赛，正如所料，客队凭借前场的快速进攻控制了大部分比赛。 但主队也没有给对手轻松的机会。 青岛和中国国家队的阿兰给了主场球迷一个欢呼的理由，连进两球！古镇沟大学体育场的8000名观众，包括我们在贵宾室的观众，都看到了一场八球惊心动魄的比赛！ 最终比分：青岛西海岸3，上海海港5。
Prior to this trip, our knowledge of CSL and Chinese football culture was limited to what we had seen on social media and online. One apparent reason is also the language; most of the more detailed published articles and information online are usually, if not all, in Chinese. And that language barrier could have restricted many non-Chinese football fans from getting to know more about Chinese football. So even though we did not stay long in Qingdao this time, our short few days at the City of Football has definitely broadened our knowledge massively.
此次旅行之前，我们对中超联赛和中国足球文化的了解仅限于社交媒体和网络上的内容。其中一个明显的原因也是语言问题；网上发布的大多数详细文章和信息通常（几乎全部）都是以中文为主。而语言障碍可能会限制许多非中国球迷进一步了解中国足球。因此，尽管我们这次在青岛停留的时间不长，在足球之城的短短几天却让我们增长了不少的见识。
Once again, special thanks to Qingdao West Coast’s Owner & Chairman, Mr Xu Shang and the club’s General Manager, Mr Shen Jun, for their kind hospitality. Despite our short stay in Qingdao, your never-hold-back sharing certainly changed our impression of Qingdao West Coast’s football and Chinese football entirely for good. We have learned so much in those few days in Qingdao, and we can’t thank you enough. In addition, we also have to thank club officials Mr Wang Qi, Mr Lian Xin, Mr Li Shi Jun, footballer Chen Po Liang and Ge Zhen.
再次特别感谢青岛西海岸俱乐部投资人，董事长兼老板徐尚先生和俱乐部总经理申军先生的盛情款待。 尽管我们在青岛的时间并不长，但你们毫不保留的分享确实彻底改变了我们对青岛西海岸足球和中国足球的印象。 在青岛的几天我们学到了很多，我们对你们感激不尽。 此外，我们还要感谢俱乐部官员王琪先生、廉昕先生、李世军先生、足球运动员陈柏良先生和葛振先生。
We thank CSL and Qingdao West Coast for having us. To CSL and Qingdao West Coast again, you have gained another fan in us.
我们感谢中超联赛和青岛西海岸的盛情款待。 青岛西海岸，你们又多了一个球迷了（我们）！
这次青岛西海岸足球之旅也感谢新加坡国际青年杯（SingaCup, Singapore Premier International Youth Football Tournament）的支持与赞助。
