17-year-old player Wei Xiangxin tried out French Ligue 1: 9-year-old Xueqiu once cried to find his mother, and hoped to keep a low profile after becoming famous

Reporter Wang Wei reports For Wei Xiangxin, who is only 17 years old, 2025 will surely make a strong mark on his fledgling football career: making his Chinese Super League debut in March, scoring his first goal in April, honing the U17 Asian Cup, and the National Games test that awaits him in the near future......

In addition to this series of unforgettable moments, he will also embark on a new football experience - on the morning of April 29, he will fly to France for a three-week trial at Ligue 1 Auxerre, aiming to realize his dream of staying abroad.

Before the start of this new journey, Wei Xiangxin and his coach Liao Wei at Meizhou Wuhua County Sports School accepted an exclusive interview with this newspaper, from which we learned more about the football growth story of "Xiao Wei".

Wei Xiangxin is a native of Wuhua County, Meizhou, and he and the ball king Li Huitang are both from Hengpi Town, Wuhua County, but they are from different villages.

Wei Xiangxin's village is a distance from Shuizhai Town, Wuhua County, when he first arrived at Wuhua County Sports School to learn to play football, he was only 9 years old, at first he was very uncomfortable, often crying, "At that time, because of my young age, I came to a new environment, I miss my family very much, and I cry every day." It took me about half a year to get used to life in the sports school. Wei Xiangxin smiled when he talked about this childhood experience.

The year Wei Xiangxin said was 2017, when his coach Liao Wei told reporters: "Xiao Wei always cried to find his mother, because I simply lived in a sports school at the time and slept with him for more than a month." ”

From being uncomfortable to staying at Wuhua Sports School to learn football, Wei Xiangxin spent a semester to complete the transformation, and then started his football dream.

Joining football training at the age of nine would seem a bit late in the eyes of ordinary people, but the support of his family and Wei Xiangxin's own insistence on football made up for his lack of training time.

Nowadays, whether in Guoshao or Meizhou Hakka, Xiao Wei is always used to practicing in the gym or venue. "When he was studying at Meizhou Hakka Football School, his son often practiced, which has become his habit," Xiao Wei's mother, Wei Xiujiao, told reporters. ”

Coach Liao Wei (pictured below, right) said: "LUCKY can have today's performance, which is actually the result of his unremitting efforts and strict self-discipline, and he is relatively modest. I feel that he is more reserved and steady than his peers. ”

In the eyes of Coach Liao, Wei Xiangxin's physique was a bit like a northern player when he was a child, "Xiao Wei is relatively strong, and when he was in the U17 Asian Cup qualifiers, his abdominal muscles impressed everyone, which is the result of his self-discipline and hard work." ”

Wei Xiangxin gave the outside world the impression that he was fast and had good confrontation ability, which was related to the fact that he practiced running more in the sports school back then, "At that time, he ran every morning, and he would do some frog jumping training, and his speed improved quickly." Liao Wei said.

Meizhou is the hometown of football, and the Wuhua people are particularly fond of football, and Wei Xiangxin has absorbed nutrients from the fertile land of football in Wuhua since he was a child. Xiao Wei's home is in Hengpi Town, Wuhua County, and it is only 3 kilometers from his home to Li Huitang's former residence. "There is a dog hole at the door of Li Huitang's former residence, I heard that Li Huitang used grapefruit as a football when he was a child, and shot that dog hole, which laid the foundation for shooting." Wei Xiangxin said, "The football atmosphere in our hometown is very good, which made me interested in football since I was a child. ”

There have been many international players in Meizhou, there is a good story of "one county and six international players", Wei Xiangxin said that he has been inspired by the deeds of these predecessors since he was a child: "I have had a dream since I was a child, and I hope that one day I can also be like them, representing the national team." Wei Xiangxin told reporters, "Guo Yijun, an international player who came out of Meizhou in the past, was my coach in the Guangdong team, and he usually taught me some running." ”

The game that really made the national youth team discover Wei Xiangxin was the Chinese Football Association Youth Football Championship (Professional Club U15 Group) at the end of November 2023, when Meizhou Hakka U15 won the championship in Yancheng, Jiangsu, Wei Xiangxin was elected the best player of the tournament, and thus opened his own national brand.

In August 2024, China U16 won the Peace Cup, and Wei Xiangxin was elected the best player of the tournament. He then carried his good form into the U17 Asian Cup qualifiers two months later, helping the team not only reach the Under-17 Asian Cup main draw, but also became the team's top scorer. In the U17 Asian Cup in April this year, Wei Xiangxin scored goals and assists, and his performance was also good.

In this year's U17 Asian Cup, the Chinese team lost 1-2 to Uzbekistan in the group stage, which finally won the championship of this tournament. In fact, in the Peace Cup in August last year, the national youth team defeated the Uzbekistan team 2-1.

"When we met Uzbekistan in the group stage of the Under-17 Asian Cup this year, they were very energetic because they lost to us last year and they felt they had a strong desire for revenge. This year they have strengthened a lot in terms of body and are much stronger than us. Wei Xiangxin said, "For example, Hasanov, the best player in the U17 Asian Cup, was very thin last year and was not so tall, but this year he is much stronger and taller." Also, I heard that they played a lot of warm-up games before the Asian Cup, and when I played against them, I really felt that they were more mature than us. ”

Coach Liao Wei watched all the games of the U17 Asian Cup, "In the first game against the host Saudi Arabia, Xiao Wei scored in the 98th minute; In the second game against Uzbekistan, he had another assist, and I think the level and attitude he showed in this tournament is good. Liao Wei said, "After the last game against Thailand, I saw some players crying. I immediately sent Xiao Wei a WeChat message to tell him not to cry, because his life has just begun, and the Chinese Super League is still waiting for him to shine. Shortly after returning home from Saudi Arabia, he scored his first goal in the Chinese Super League. ”

On the evening of April 16, in Meizhou Hakka's 2-2 draw with Zhejiang, Wei Xiangxin made a penalty in the second half, when coach Milan shouted in the coach's seat to let Xiao Wei go to the penalty. As a result, Wei Xiangxin achieved it overnight, and the first goal of his Chinese Super League career came like this.

"I am very grateful to the Milan coach for allowing me to achieve my dream of scoring the first goal in the Chinese Super League," Wei Xiangxin said, "The Milan coach cheers us in the dressing room before, at halftime and after every game, which is very passionate and can greatly boost the morale of the team." ”

From playing the Chinese championship last year to achieving a "double jump" to play in the Chinese Super League this year, he made his Super League debut at the age of 17 and scored a goal, which made Wei Xiangxin feel a little unreal.

"It was the owner of the Hakka Football Club who asked me to go back to Hakka to play, and I am very grateful to the owner and the club for giving me such a good opportunity." Wei Xiangxin said, "At that time, it was very sudden, the club called me and told me to get ready to return to Meizhou Hakka, saying that the owner and coach wanted me to come back to play in the Chinese Super League this season. I heard that the boss also made a special contact in Guangzhou for this purpose, so that I could return to Hakka smoothly. Scoring in the second league game, hopefully my performance lives up to the boss's expectations and I will continue to work hard in the next games. ”

Nowadays, before every league game, head coach Milan will tell Xiao Wei to tell him to relax and play after he plays. The big brother in the team also takes good care of Xiao Wei, "Like Brother Liao (Liao Junjian), they usually take care of me and often encourage me, so I am not so nervous after I come off the bench, and the whole person will be more confident." Wei Xiangxin said.

Wei Xiangxin told reporters that he now has a dream, hoping to achieve good results in this year's 15th National Games, "As a member of the host Guangdong team, we are competing at home, and we definitely hope to win the championship for Guangdong." ”

In an exclusive interview with this newspaper this time, Wei Xiangxin also took the initiative to chat with reporters about his expectations for himself: "Maybe I have received more attention from the outside world in the past time, but I hope that I will continue to be a low-key person, be humble on and off the field, train hard, and strive to play in rotation in the Chinese Super League." Next, I will strive to achieve good results in the National Games, and then go out to have a look and think about the opportunity to go out and stay abroad. ”

When 9-year-old Wei Xiangxin went to Wuhua Sports School, Coach Liao Wei told him that he should be a low-key person off the field and play high-profile football on the field. "Every time I play for a club team or a national team, I ask him if he is going to practice again, and he always replies to me, saying that he can't hide anything from me." Liao Wei said, "I told Xiao Wei that we must continue to maintain the habit of self-discipline, don't be affected by the sound of the outside world, and don't float." Because many players are easy to float when they have a little fame and income, they will slowly disappear from the public. I hope Xiao Wei doesn't do that, because his professional football journey has just begun, and I believe he won't be like that. ”

At the end of the interview, Wei Xiangxin revealed to reporters: "The club owner is going to let me go to Auxerre Football Club in France for a trial, and it will take about 3 weeks to go, and my visa is almost coming down." According to the plan, I left for France after playing the match against Qingdao Manatee away. No matter what the results of the tryout, I'm going to do my best. ”

On April 28, after the Meizhou Hakka official announced that Wei Xiangxin would go to Auxerre for a trial, the reporter once again sent blessings to Xiao Wei. On the morning of April 29, he will fly from Beijing to Paris, and then to Ligue 1 club Auxerre to begin his three-week journey to pursue his dream.