Thanks to the Guangdong City Football Super League(Yuechao), Jiangmen has hosted a home match for a city-level football team for the first time in years, drawing 20,000 local fans to the stands. A pre-match team speech by Huang Zihao, head coach of the Jiangmen team, went viral online. After spending more than a decade building his career away from home, he has now chosen to put his personal career on hold and return to Jiangmen.

Jiangmen has long had a relatively weak football foundation. Although Huang developed a passion for the sport at an early age, he never had the chance to receive professional training. Starting as an amateur player before gradually becoming a professional coach, he had to take far more detours than former professional players. After 13 years in Guangzhou and Shenzhen, Huang finally earned coaching opportunities with Chinese Champions League and China League Two clubs, entering a rising stage of his professional career.

But when preparations for Yuechao began, Huang, one of the few professional football coaches from Jiangmen, decided to pause his own career development and return home to build the Jiangmen team. His reason was simple: when he first left Jiangmen to pursue football elsewhere, his hope was to one day return with what he had learned and help develop the sport in his hometown. On the training ground, he taught the players the most basic football knowledge again and again. Off the pitch, to build chemistry among the players and strengthen the team atmosphere, he prepared a speech that later went viral. "As head coach, I need to motivate the players in different ways. The speech was mostly improvised. Looking at the packed stands, I spoke from the heart. This kind of turnout is usually seen only at leading China League One clubs," Huang said.

For Huang, this edition of Yuechao is a precious opportunity. "Through this tournament, Jiangmen can be seen by more people. At the same time, residents can experience football up close. It will also give a strong boost to the development of football in Jiangmen," he said.

游子归乡挂帅，粤超点燃江门“足球热”

因为粤超，江门时隔多年再次迎来市级足球队主场赛事，吸引两万市民到场支持。江门队主教练黄子豪的一段赛前内部演讲火爆全网，这位在外打拼了十余年的足球人，如今为家乡毅然暂缓个人事业，回到江门。

江门足球基础薄弱，黄子豪虽从小热爱足球，却无缘职业训练。从业余球员一步步转型职业教练，他比退役球员多走无数弯路。漂泊广深13年，黄子豪终获中冠、中乙俱乐部执教机会，步入职业上升期。

但当粤超开始筹备后，作为江门少有的职业足球教练，他暂缓了个人职业发展回乡组建江门队。理由也很简单，他最初决定外出打拼就是想学成归来帮助江门足球。在训练场上，他一遍又一遍教着最基础的足球知识。足球场外，他为了培养球员默契和团队氛围，准备了那次“出圈”演讲。“我作为主教练需要通过各种方法激励大家。发言的内容主要是即兴的，看着满场的观众我有感而发，这上座率要到中甲头部球队才有。”黄子豪说。

对于这次粤超，黄子豪认为机会很珍贵：“江门能够通过这次比赛被更多人看到，同时江门的父老乡亲也能近距离感受足球，对江门足球的发展也是很好的推动。”

文｜记者 曾潇
视频｜记者 曾潇 温泽广
译｜郑奕玲
英文审校｜曾敏