The 2025 "Gan Chao" League Kicks Off with Passion, Marking a New Journey for Jiangxi Football
On the evening of July 12, football enthusiasts in Jiangxi welcomed a long-awaited grand event—the 2025 "Yingxin Development" Jiangxi Provincial City Football Super League, popularly known as the fiery "Gan Chao," passionately kicked off at the Nanchang Bayi Stadium!
Event Upgraded with a New Theme: "Fight for the City"
The predecessor of "Gan Chao" was the Jiangxi Provincial Football Super League held for many consecutive years. This time, with the addition of the word "City," it has been fully upgraded to the Jiangxi Provincial City Football Super League, with the theme slogan set as "In the Name of Football, Fight for the City," instantly boosting the sense of city pride. From now on, teams will compete in their own cities, and fans will watch matches in their own cities, creating a strong sense of belonging.
Amateur Players Gather, Diverse Forces Show Vitality
Each of the 11 prefecture-level cities in the province has formed a representative team to participate. The average age of the players is 23 years old, and they come from various industries. Sixty percent are students, while the rest may be teachers, chefs, drivers, and so on, making it truly a "stage for grassroots players." This also highlights the broad participation and vigorous vitality of football in Jiangxi. Moreover, to ensure the purity of the competition, professional players registered in the Chinese Super League, China League One, China League Two, and the five amateur leagues in 2024 and 2025 are explicitly prohibited from participating.
Unique Composite Format Creates Suspenseful Matches
To balance competitive intensity and entertainment value and to keep the championship outcome uncertain, this season's Gan Chao adopts a phased composite format of "regional confrontation + crossover matches." In the early stage, teams are divided into two regions: Northern Jiangxi and Southern Jiangxi. Ganzhou, Pingxiang, Xinyu, Yichun, Fuzhou, and Ji'an belong to the Southern Jiangxi division, while Nanchang, Shangrao, Jingdezhen, Yingtan, and Jiujiang belong to the Northern Jiangxi division. They first compete in a double round-robin home-and-away format, totaling 50 matches from July 12 to September 14. Then, the top four teams from each division enter a home-and-away crossover knockout stage. The entire schedule lasts 110 days with 66 matches in total, mostly arranged on weekends, allowing fans to fully enjoy the football feast.
Opening Match Ends in a Draw, Enthusiasm Onsite Unabated
The opening match was held between the Nanchang City team and the Jingdezhen City team. Both teams fielded young players in their starting lineups. These young talents showed great fighting spirit, daring to take the ball and break through—truly "fearless as newborn calves." Although the match ended in a 0-0 draw, the enthusiasm of nearly 15,000 spectators on site was undiminished, with cheers and support deafening. The attention also extended online, with major media platforms such as CCTV Video and Dajiang News Client streaming live simultaneously, allowing countless fans to cheer remotely.
The opening of the "Gan Chao" League not only provides a carnival stage for Jiangxi football fans but also lets more people see the potential and vitality of Jiangxi football. In the days ahead, let's keep our eyes on "Gan Chao" and cheer for the city teams we support! Which team do you think will win the championship? Leave your thoughts in the comments below👇