Reporter Wang Wei and intern reporter Huang Hao report In mid-January, the Chinese Football Association announced the list of participating teams in the Chinese Super League and the Chinese Football League, and the Shenzhen Youth Team entered the Chinese League in the new season as a substitute. The club, which has been in existence for less than three years, has made two consecutive league jumps in two seasons. As a new team in the Chinese League, Shenzhen Youth is one of the platforms for many local players in Shenzhen to get development opportunities. As a club with strong local elements in Shenzhen, Shenzhen Youth hopes to become another Shenzhen force in the top league through 5 to 10 years of steady development.

In the 2024 season of the Chinese Second League, Shenzhen Youth fell behind Dalian Kuncheng by one point, ranking third, and missed the chance to be directly promoted to the Chinese League. Entering the winter training stage, Shenzhen young people have formulated two sets of plans for participating in the first and second grades. Although the outside world believes that it is a high probability event for Shenzhen young people to enter the Chinese League, even Li Chunhao, general manager of Shenzhen Youth Club, personally admitted through the club's official social media that the Chinese Football Association has called Shenzhen young people to prepare for the replacement of the Chinese League, but before receiving the official notice, the whole team has never been able to let go of the hanging heart.

On January 15, 2025, the Chinese Football Association released the list of participants in the 2025 China League A League, and Shenzhen youths were among them. After nearly three months of waiting, the club was officially established in 2022 and has achieved two consecutive jumps in two years, and will compete in the Chinese League in the new season.

'We're just one point away from promotion, so if we win one more game, we won't have to wait so long. Fortunately, God rewards hard work, and our efforts are not in vain. "Zhang, who has experienced numerous ups and downs in his coaching career, sees this promotion as an affirmation of the team's efforts last season." It's a good night to win, a week to lose, it's our daily routine as professional coaches, but this time we were uncomfortable for almost three months, and when we learned that the replacement was successful, the regret was really relieved. Zhang Jun, head coach of the Shenzhen Youth Team, said.

In 2013, Li Chunhao was selected for the Chinese U16 national men's football team as a student of Shenzhen Cuiyuan Middle School. After graduating from high school, Li Chunhao played in the Shenzhen team reserve team for one year, and then played in the second league with Baoding Rongda for one year.

Li Chunhao, 27, who is currently the general manager of Shenzhen Youth Football Club, reflects on the process of transforming from player to manager, and he believes that he can learn and do things at work, but what is difficult to give up is the dream in his heart to continue to become a professional footballer. Li Chunhao said that the year before last, Shenzhen young people participated in the Chinese Champions League, and he also reserved a place for himself in the team squad. During the preparation period, he lost more than a dozen pounds in more than half a month, and regained the feeling of running in the professional arena back then.

However, a conversation between the club's investors and Li Chunhao gave him a clearer understanding of the direction of development for himself and the club, "The boss has a very good relationship with me in private, and he hopes that someone he trusts can manage the club, and he also intends to train me into this role." Later, he also talked to me about my transformation, so I have to be worthy of the trust that investors have placed in me, and at the same time be responsible for the future of the club. Li Chunhao said that he still struggled when he made this decision, "At that time, I chose to retire to the background as a general manager, because I couldn't continue my career, and I was sad for a while." ”

As the club's name suggests, young people are always full of possibilities. After transforming from a player to the general manager of the club, Li Chunhao quickly adapted to this new role, selecting players, picking venues, booking air tickets, and all the daily operations of the club. Entering the preparation period of the new season, Li Chunhao is involved in the negotiation of the introduction of foreign aid, and the 27-year-old professional club manager has grown rapidly through "actual combat".

It is worth mentioning that Li Chunhao is one of the members of a WeChat group of fans of Shenzhen youth, and he will interact with fans in the group on weekdays, and some people will even recommend excellent players to him in the group. Although he can't reply to every message, Li Chunhao will pay attention to the comments of the fans, and he is willing to use this way to close the distance between the club and the fans.

As a new team in the Chinese League, the most realistic goal of Shenzhen Youth in the new season is to gain a foothold in the Chinese League. "From its establishment to the present, what young people in Shenzhen have pursued is stable and healthy development. Last year, we set a goal for Zhang Dao to rush to the first class in 3 years, and now this goal has been achieved ahead of schedule, so our goal in the next 3 years is to gain a firm foothold in the middle league and strive to have the strength to impact a higher platform after 5 years. ”

To put the goal of foothold in the Central League into practice, that is, to race against time to prepare for the new season in the current pre-season preparation period. In January this year, the young people completed the first phase of winter training preparations in Shenzhen and Foshan, during which they warmed up with Chinese Super League teams such as Shenzhen Xinpeng City, Qingdao Manatee and Wuhan Three Towns to continuously test the results of training.

In terms of personnel adjustment, Shenzhen Youth not only introduced the veteran Cheng Yuelei, but also announced the signing of Nzuzi Mata, Milan Marčić and Joel Noble, in addition to Mai Sijin, Xie Baoxian, Han Guanghui, Hu Ming, Menyang and a number of original main players to complete the contract renewal, to complete the transition from the middle B to the middle league.

Li Chunhao revealed that the club has begun to plan the lineup for the next 3 to 5 years, of which the players born from 1997 to 2002 are the focus of Shenzhen youth, in Li Chunhao's view, the next two years 97 to 99 age group players to gradually provoke the beam, and then they lead the post-00 players to grow, the team to steadily renew.

Localization is also one of the key development directions for young people in Shenzhen. There are not only many players in the club who have grown up in Shenzhen, but also Zhang Jun, Xiang Jun and others in the coaching team have also been members of the old Shenzu team.

Hu Ming, who completed the contract renewal with Shenzhen Youth, said: "This year, the team has introduced a lot of players from Shenzhen Football Academy, and the concept of our team is to provide a platform for local children in Shenzhen to play, and their return is because they have seen the development and model of Shenzhen Youth Team, and they are willing to come back." We, the older players, first of all, bring out our own characteristics, and secondly, help these young players to grow gradually. ”

Mai Sijin, the captain who has been deeply cultivated, resolutely returned when the young people in Shenzhen called him "go home". "Since the club has won the championship, the club's investors and management team are making every effort to build a local team in Shenzhen with feelings and heritage, and the team has many Shenzhen elements, from the guidance of head coach Zhang Jun to assistant coach Xiang Jun, Ren Peng, etc., the team members include Zhou Xin, Xie Baoxian, me, and the newly introduced Cheng Yuelei, all of whom have elements of the old Shenzhen team, all of whom have played in the old Shenzu and have very feelings for Shenzhen football. Now there are more and more children playing football in Shenzhen, and the level is getting higher and higher, the club's general manager Li Chunhao and a number of teammates have won the national youth competition championship before, and now Shenzhen young people have the ability to localize, but also provide a platform for Shenzhen's local football teenagers to rise and show themselves. ”

Localization is the hallmark of Shenzhen's youth, but when deciding whether to bring in a player, head coach Zhang Jun sticks to his principles, "On the one hand, we are very fond of players from Shenzhen and Guangdong, and on the other hand, the club will still carefully evaluate the ability and technical style of players when they bring in players", Zhang Jun summed up the club's principles for building a team in one sentence: "Shenzhen young people are not only about feelings, but also about the laws of football. ”

More than a year ago, Shenzu, who will turn 30, announced its disbandment, but fortunately, the arrival of Xinpeng City has not left Shenzhen far from the stage of the top league. In the new season, with the success of Shenzhen youths entering the Chinese League and Shenzhen 2028 Chong B, Shenzhen's teams will be all over the four leagues of the Chinese Super League, the Chinese League, the Chinese Second League, and the Chinese Championship.

What's even more commendable is that fans of different teams in Shenzhen rarely face each other with opposing emotions, "If you come, you are from Shenzhen, and if you go out, you will be the Shenzhen team, and every team can get a living space in the city of Shenzhen." Moreover, the managers of several of our clubs often communicate together, representing different teams, but they all have feelings for Shenzhen football. Li Chunhao said.

As a child who watched the old Shenzu grow up, Li Chunhao felt that he had the responsibility to let this feeling of belonging to the old Shenzhen team land, so he and several partners founded the Shenzhen Youth Club to provide a way out for players who have played in Shenzhen since childhood. Zhang Jun, who completed the transformation from a player to a coach in the Shenzhen team, is full of expectations for the future of Shenzhen football, and he hopes that the young people of Shenzhen will not only learn modestly on the platform of the Chinese League, but at the same time, they will not lose the courage to defeat every opponent, and interpret the city spirit of Shenzhen with the style of daring to fight.

Striker Hu Ming is a member of the three high school teams trained by the Beijing People's Congress, played football on behalf of Beijing Institute of Technology during college and graduate school, joined Nantong Zhiyun after graduating from graduate school, and then went to Qingdao Manatee to play football, from college football to professional football, he continued his football dream in the Shenzhen Youth Team. Regarding the topic of how to face the Chinese League in the new season, Hu Ming said: "As a team that has been replaced, in the face of the Chinese A team, we first have a learning attitude to do a good job first, and in the winter training process, we will lay a good foundation and run in well, show our own characteristics, and play our own style on the platform of the Chinese League." ”