Zhao Dapeng, a veteran soccer fan, has been in love with the game since the beginning of the A-A era, and he has witnessed the Dalian team's home stadium style for more than 20 years, rain or shine. He remembers the moment when Sun Jihai made his debut, the retirement ceremonies of legendary players such as Li Ming, Jangovic, and Ahn Jung-hwan, as well as the team's journey from the A-A to the Chinese Super League, then to the Central League, and finally back to the Chinese Super League. During this journey, he not only felt the joy of winning the championship and the tension of relegation, but also shed tears in the pain of loss and relegation.
However, with the implementation of the conference system, Zhao Dapeng lost the pleasure of watching the matches live. Fortunately, Dalian, as a Chinese Super League (CSL) region, some of the matches were still open to the public, allowing him to continue his record of watching matches in the 2020 season. However, in the 2021 season, empty stadiums combined with the conference system prevented him from attending in person for the entire year.
Passion remains, tickets are hard to come by
"For me, watching Chinese Super League matches live has become an indispensable part of life, it's not just a ball game, it's the honor of the city and the fans' sense of belonging as citizens." When the ticket program was announced, Zhao Dapeng didn't hesitate and immediately grabbed the tickets. The next day, he helped a friend to buy tickets, but found that the tickets were nearly sold out.
Although Puwan Stadium is far away from the city center, the relevant departments in Dalian provided considerate services and humanized arrangements. The number of stands open reached 20,000, and a number of free bus and subway extension services were arranged for the remote stadium. At the same time, a 48-hour nucleic acid report was required, but free nucleic acid tests were provided for ticket holders.
Detailed care, fan satisfaction
Despite the slight inconvenience, fans said they were glad to have it. Ticket prices were the same as in previous years, and each ticket came with a 20 yuan welfare ticket. Official data showed that the number of fans attending the game reached 16,000. Before the game, a huge tifo made by the fans attracted a lot of attention, on which was written Xie Hui's classic quote: "Just press and beat".
On a hot summer day, Lin Liangming helped Dalian people equalize the score with a key goal, and the cheers of the fans on the field were loud and clear. Such an enthusiastic scene made people feel the hot atmosphere of soccer.
Teams benefit from home field advantage
Returning to action at home, Dalian People, short of substitutes, battled the Harbor team until the last minute. Attacking player Lin Liangming went down for successive shovels in injury time, and an FA official who had seen Dalian People play in Haikou and Dalian said, "The excitement of the crowd for the home team was very obvious. The credit for the success of this game should go to the fans."
The FA staff who came to work in Dalian have lamented, "It's awesome, exciting." This was the first actual home game after the resumption of home and away matches, and the FA sent a working group of several people to Dalian. They said that Dalian is very mature in running matches, and this match went smoothly from a working point of view, with almost no hiccups or accidents encountered.
Successful experiences to drive home and away recovery
In the eyes of the FA officials, the success of this game has made a good start to the restoration of home and away. They hope to learn from the success and push for the restoration of home and away matches elsewhere, so that the league can return to the way it was in 2018 and 2019, and that's the situation everyone is looking forward to.
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