Interview with Guo Guangqi, general manager of Yunnan Yukun: We must strive to gain a firm foothold in the Chinese Super League

Reporter Lu Mi reports "Super League, Yunnan is late." Guo Guangqi, general manager of Yunnan Yukun Club, said at the club's championship ceremony. His tone was deep, not only to express the sincerity of Yunnan football's return to Chinese football, but also to apologize for the lack of Yunnan football in Chinese football in the past 21 years. In 2021, under the leadership of the Yunnan Provincial Sports Bureau, Yunnan Yukun started from the China Championship, and after more than three years, it was upgraded year by year, and finally made Yunnan Football have a Chinese Super League team for the first time in its history.

Yunnan Hongta was disbanded for 21 years, as the coach and leader of the year, and also a native of the Yunnan team football player, Guo Guangqi has been adrift for 16 years, witnessing the golden era of Chinese football, and also experiencing the devastation after the flowers have fallen. Now, he has led Yukun from scratch and the team to the top league step by step, and will use his experience to jointly write a new history of Yunnan Yukun.

Speaking of Guo Guangqi, he has many identities, coach, team leader, and general manager. In 2018, after the contract with Henan Jianye expired, he faded out of public view. The next time I saw him, it was 2023, when Yunnan Yukun had just won the championship and was preparing for the 2023 season of the China Second League. Last year's Yukun did not show much ambition, and Guo Guangqi returned to Yunnan to work and live, simple and fulfilling. In the past ten years, he has worked in big city clubs and the blessing of multiple identities, which makes him sit in the position of general manager of the new army of China B, which seems to be at ease.

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No one expected that the team, located in the small city of Yuxi, would soar in more than three years. "The background when we formed the team was that the Yunnan Provincial Sports Bureau proposed in the 14th Five-Year Plan: we hope that Yunnan Province will have a Chinese team in 2025. Therefore, in the process of teaming up and implementation, the goal is also to be able to play in the Chinese League in 2025. Guo Guangqi said. It takes four years to rush the armor, which seems to be not very difficult for Guo Guangqi. In fact, when Yunnan Yukun formed a team in 2021, there was also a team in Yunnan Province in the second division - Zheng He Shipwrights, and at that time, Yukun did not have such an obvious sense of mission in Yunnan football that he carried.

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Until 2022, when Yukun regrouped to participate in the Chinese championship, Zheng He Shipwright announced its disbandment, and Yunnan returned to zero in the field of professional football in China. "For a club that started from scratch, we feel the weight of our shoulders and hope to represent Yunnan football and have a place in Chinese professional football." That year, Yukun made a big wave in the lower league, completed the team, and won the championship of the China Championship League in one fell swoop. In 2023, with the support of investors, players with Chinese Super League experience such as Zhong Haoran will be introduced to supplement their strength. However, the whole process of B to A and A to super is not smooth.

This year, there is an influx of a large number of outstanding players in the middle league, and the ambition to complete the overtaking is also gradually manifested after one victory after another. Li Jinyu's sudden resignation is one of the twists and turns. When the team learned the news, they were shocked, and the outside world was full of bad speculation. Guo Guangqi, as the general manager, did not explain a word to the outside world, but served as the firefighting coach for the first time, stabilized the mentality of the players, smoothly transitioned the two games, and kept the points advantage while giving investors time to find a new coach. After Anderson took over the team, he brought everything back on track, and Yukun played the strength of a strong team in the remaining games, rushing four rounds ahead of schedule and winning the Central League championship three rounds ahead of schedule.

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On October 6, Yunnan Yukun defeated Shanghai Jiading Huilong at home and locked in the 2025 Chinese Super League qualification four rounds in advance, which was a day that Yunnan football could not forget. As a representative of Yunnan footballers, and as the general manager who participated in all the work from Yukun team to Chongchao, Guo Guangqi stood in the center of the stadium of more than 20,000 people and told everyone in a trembling voice: "The Chinese Super League, Yunnan is coming!" ”

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Compared with the sonorous and powerful speech of captain Zhao Yuhao, the older generation of football man Guo Guangqi was full of regret for the lack of Yunnan football in the top league in the past 21 years, and even more emotional about the rise of Yukun in the lowest period of Chinese football at that moment. There have been countless moments this season when he's pretty sure about overtaking, but when everything happens, he's still incredible.

At the last home of the season, the club held a grand championship celebration, and there was a meaningful link, former international player, Yunnan Hongta famous district Chu Liang handed over a Yunnan Hongta jersey to Yukun captain Zhao Yuhao. and Guo Guangqi were both legends of the Red Tower that year, and the arrival of Ou Chuliang brought "memory killing" to many old fans on the scene, as if the youth of 21 years ago had returned, and Yukun had a more meaning of inheritance.

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The success of Yukun not only allowed Yunnan to have a top league team after 21 years, but also the first time in the history of Yunnan football that there was a Chinese Super League team. 21 years ago, Hongta was transferred to Chongqing Lifan, and it fell before the first year of the Chinese Super League, which was the pain of Yunnan football for 21 years. "I always get together with Ou Chuliang and some coaches in Yunnan to talk about Hongta and Yunnan football."

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When he played in Hongta, whether it was Ou Chuliang or Liu Yue, they originally planned to settle in Kunming, but then the club was gone, so they had to go away. A good youth seedling like Zhao Yuhao was poached to other places early in the morning, and even Guo Guangqi was no exception. "For me personally, if I have the opportunity to go to a higher platform, I can only go outside the province. In the past 21 years, I only stayed in Yunnan for half a year, worked in Shanghai for 11 years, and then traveled to Guangzhou, Chongqing, Henan and other places, and 16 or 7 years have passed. "For Yunnan footballers like Guo Guangqi, the 21-year wait is a long time.

Guo Guangqi said that after the disbandment of the Red Tower, the reserve was given to Lijiang, and at that time, the Lijiang government also wanted to rush up, and insisted on it for many years, and many people put in the effort, but did not have enough influence. This time, Yukun surpassed it, and the influence it brought was unprecedented. "Yunnan has not had a top league team for so many years, and the entire youth training system and competition system have been greatly affected. For example, after many children are cultivated in Kunming, they are dug into big cities. "In this process, although Yunnan has a hot atmosphere in folk football, it has never had a good system to irrigate the foundation of professional football, and has always been in a relatively backward situation.

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There is not enough funds and venues, lack of excellent coaches, a large number of talent drain, and the corresponding poor economic environment and competition environment, resulting in a low youth success rate in Yunnan for a long time.

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Guo Guangqi said: "In fact, the task in front of Yukun is also very arduous, to face the problems faced by those clubs in the past, and at the same time to strive to gain a firm foothold in the Chinese Super League platform." Only when the Super League stands still, can we think about the future development, if the year of the tour falls again, this damage is greater than not rushing up. ”

Yukun, as a new army in the league this year, is unbeatable in the league, largely because of the stable capital investment. First of all, we can recruit powerful players, narrow the gap between the main force and the substitutes, and improve the overall combat effectiveness of the team. In addition to the insistence of the club's investors in the upsurge of private enterprises withdrawing from the circle, the club has begun to grasp independent operation this year, "especially the generosity of local private enterprises, so that the club has enough financial support, and with the support of provincial and municipal departments, we have achieved the goal." Both are indispensable. ”

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Guo Guangqi has experienced the Jinyuan football era over the years, and has also seen the plight of clubs at all levels after the bubble has dissipated. Yukun was considered a "Chinese giant" from the beginning, and in fact, their core question was also "where does the money come from". The biggest task facing the club next year is to stabilize the existing sponsors and find more ways to keep the club alive from the perspective of the market. "This requires everyone to have a consensus, if we are to create a business card, use this platform, and jointly build corporate culture and product promotion, there should be more and broader resources."

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Guo Guangqi believes that next year's very important task is here, and this is a concept that needs to be inculcated and promoted for a long time. "Last year we had some foundations, but the difficulty will be greater because the higher the platform, because it turns out that the difficulty of funding is not a problem for one club, but for all clubs." As a professional manager, he made a division, this year's top clubs in the Super League basically spend four or five billion a year, the midstream club is about 200 million, and the six or seven clubs that fight for relegation to the final round are about 100 million, and some are even less than 100 million. "Basically, it's the input that determines the level, and we may also face a lot of pressure on this issue next year."

The good news is that after the club ensures a place in the Chinese Super League next year, the provincial and municipal governments have made a positive statement that they will give Yukun considerable support next year, and the club will cooperate with the implementation during the offseason.

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In addition to the need to straighten out operations to ensure overall stability next year, the adjustment of the new first team is also in full swing. At the end of the league, many agents have come to Yuxi to recommend players, Guo Guangqi said: "The team is formed, and the head coach's opinion will occupy a more important position, and appropriate adjustment is necessary." For example, the Chinese Super League wants five foreign aids, we have to introduce at least two more, and domestic players will also consider introducing some young players with the strength of the Chinese Super League, which is the basis for next year. ”

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More importantly, the team needs to be mentally prepared enough to meet the challenge, do a good job in winter training, prepare for the game, and aim for relegation, and strive to gain a firm foothold in the Chinese Super League. It is now the responsibility of the people of Yukun to keep Yunnan football alive on the map of China's top league.