Chapter 104: The Women's Soccer Final

“Cheers!”

The brightly lit hotel lobby was filled with half-grown boys aged twelve to seventeen—this was the celebration meeting of Yun Jia Tianyu Football School.

In the first National Football School and Professional Club Youth League tournament, all Yun Jia Tianyu’s youth teams had achieved even more glorious results than last year. All five boys’ youth teams claimed the championship titles—this record might not be unprecedented, but it was certainly unparalleled. Considering how national clubs increasingly emphasize youth development, it was unlikely that Yun Jia Tianyu would replicate such brilliance in the future.

Even the girls’ team, formed less than two years ago, had reached the finals, scheduled for the next day. Their opponent would be the Shanghai girls’ youth team.

For Pei Wei, the owner of Yun Jia Tianyu, this was a source of immense joy. Although he was tied up with the Football Association’s delegation in England, he still made a long-distance call to ensure everyone who had participated in the tournament would gather for a proper celebration—the club would foot the bill, and there were no limits to the expenses!

Thanks to this, Yun Jia Tianyu’s coaches had the luxury of booking a three-star hotel to properly reward the players.

Xia Liquan, beaming with satisfaction, raised his glass in a toast alongside the other coaches. This table was full of coaches, including the football school’s head coach Rad, Ding Yu, former Chinese national player and current assistant coach for Yun Jia Tianyu’s first team as well as coach for the U-17 squad Li Huajun, and the girls’ team coach Jian Ying, wife of Yun Jia Tianyu’s most famous star Nie Fei and a former member of China’s women’s national team.

Among the coaches at this table, Jian Ying was the youngest. Shortly after helping China’s women’s team win the 1999 Women’s World Cup, she was forced to retire due to a severe injury. Yet, she did not idle away her time or become a mere housewife alongside Nie Fei, nor did she leave football. Instead, she began training to be a women’s football coach. Having once single-handedly managed the “Blue Coral” team left by her father, serving both as head coach and team leader, she adapted swiftly. Before the club formed its own women’s team, she had already obtained her coaching certification. Consequently, when Yun Jia Tianyu established its girls’ youth team, she was invited back as coach. With her playing background and coaching experience, she was instrumental in guiding the young women’s team, barely over a year old, to this year’s finals.

“Coach Jian, I promised last time, and we’ve delivered. Tomorrow, our entire team will come out to cheer for you — you can’t let us down!” Ding Yu lifted his glass and said to Jian Ying.

The other coaches immediately joined in the teasing. At moments like these, they dropped the solemn façades they usually wore in front of players, playfully ribbing the youngest and only female member of their group.

Jian Ying was unfazed—having started carrying a club on her shoulders as a teenager, daring to disguise herself as a boy to earn money in Yun Jia Tianyu’s youth teams, and having been a World Cup champion, she was not scared of a bit of banter. Though now a mother, she was still striking and spirited. She slammed the table with determination and called out loudly, “Girls! Tomorrow, all two hundred-plus members of the boys’ youth teams will come to cheer for us. What do you say—how do we respond?”

“Win the championship!” Like fierce tigers, not lambs—though the metaphor was a bit off—these young women boldly shouted in unison, their fierce spirit silencing the boys instantly.

“Impressive, truly impressive. As they say, women hold up half the sky,” Xia Liquan said with a smile, giving a thumbs-up. “It’s settled then. Tomorrow, everyone we bring will cheer for you! Principal Rad, do you agree?”

“No problem,” Rad replied fluently in his Beijing accent. “Tomorrow, we’ll definitely be there to support!”

Before China’s 1998 World Cup campaign, the national football scene showed a peculiar phenomenon of “female dominance over male decline”: the men’s team was not even top-tier in Asia, while the women’s team was world-class—a pattern common in Chinese sports but especially pronounced in football.

The women’s national team, rooted in a professional system, exhibited a grueling work ethic surpassing the men’s team. Moreover, the women’s football scene was relatively young and less formalized. Throughout the 1990s, the Chinese women’s team was among the world’s elite, peaking with the 1999 World Cup victory. However, as a wave of talented veterans retired, the team faced a transitional period, with its professional foundation nearly depleted. Establishing a professional women’s league seemed impractical—the excitement level of women’s football could not match the men’s. Though national team matches attracted crowds, league games did not, leading to low revenue and subsequently unsustainable player salaries, discouraging new talent.

To address this, the Football Association devised a plan: women’s teams would affiliate with men’s clubs, with a rule that female players’ salaries could not be less than one-tenth of their male counterparts. Additionally, clubs with women’s teams enjoyed a 50% reduction in luxury taxes. This created fertile ground for women’s football development.

Currently, the emblematic figure for Chinese women’s football is Sun Wen from Shanghai. With such a role model, many girls in Shanghai play the sport. Under the current system, the more girls playing, the stronger the team. That is why Yun Jia’s girls’ youth team, which had never produced national team talent except for a brief appearance by Jian Ying herself, shocked everyone by reaching the finals.

Jian Ying was the only female coach among all girls’ teams in this tournament.

Having previously coached a men’s amateur team and served as manager for Yun Jia Tianyu’s reserve squad, Jian Ying was well-versed in coaching. Though the reserve team’s coaches, including Ding Yu, were not famous, they possessed solid skills and flexible tactical approaches. Jian Ying regularly observed the first team’s training and matches under three foreign head coaches—Wenger, Benítez, and Mourinho—each with distinct styles but sharing one trait: they did not rigidly adhere to a single tactic but adapted strategies to fit their players’ strengths.

Jian Ying’s approach to managing matches was similarly pragmatic—she tailored tactics to her available players. This was vital for Yun Jia Tianyu’s girls’ youth team, which lacked a traditional football foundation.

Top domestic women’s teams hailed mainly from Shanghai, Guangdong, Bayi, Dalian, and Beijing. The national team’s core usually came from these regions, making their tactics and styles predictable. This familiarity contributed to Yun Jia Tianyu’s girls’ team repeatedly defeating stronger opponents unfamiliar with Jian Ying’s imaginative tactics.

However, next year, as other teams grew to know Yun Jia Tianyu’s strengths and strategy, maintaining such outstanding results would become far more challenging. The disparity in depth and tradition was not something a year or two could bridge.

Therefore, Jian Ying was determined to clinch this championship. Beyond the honor for the girls’ team, it would set a record: all youth teams, including the girls’ squad, from a single club sweeping all titles in this invitational tournament—a feat unlikely to be repeated.

In the tournament, all five boys’ youth teams—over two hundred players—traveled en masse to the final venue, the field beside Beijing Normal University. Their overwhelming presence left many seasoned university students dumbfounded—over two hundred fans at a girls’ youth final was extraordinary.

Only upon learning these were Yun Jia Tianyu’s youth members did the students understand.

Despite the electric atmosphere on the sidelines, the match itself was not particularly thrilling. Women’s football generally lacked the excitement of men’s games, and youth matches were even rougher technically, though the tackles were fierce.

Perhaps spurred on by the boisterous cheers of their two hundred male counterparts, Yun Jia Tianyu’s girls held the upper hand, continuously pressuring their opponents. Jian Ying’s tactics were spot on. By halftime, Yun Jia’s girls had scored twice, gaining a significant advantage.

Ning Xi, the team’s forward, was fast and skillful. Having often trained with Long Bisheng, her physical resilience was impressive. Her standout moment came when she dribbled past defenders near the goal and powerfully shot to score one of the first-half goals. She seemed to pull a thigh muscle after the shot but, after treatment on the sidelines, returned to the field.

After halftime, trailing Shanghai girls’ team grew anxious and aggressive, while Yun Jia Tianyu’s girls resorted to disrupting the game’s rhythm, engaging in scrappy play to run down the clock—a highly effective tactic once leading.

As time waned, Yun Jia Tianyu’s victory loomed ever closer.

P.S.: The next chapter will introduce a little surprise—stay tuned.