• There is such a big an appetite to see the city's home football team play, that each game has been officially ‘sold out’ within a few minutes of tickets going online. However the season pans out, it can’t be denied that there is a real buzz about the Chengdu home fixtures, not just in Chengdu, but all over China.
How long have you been going to watch Chengdu matches?
I regularly watched Chengdu Blades from 2008 but stopped going when they were relegated due to a bribery scandal. Between 2011 and 2021 I occasionally went to League 1 games watching several different teams.
Since Chengdu Rongcheng got promoted to the Chinese Super League in 2022 I’ve been to nearly every home game and joined the Red Blades Ultras last season.
How are Chengdu Rongcheng performing this season?
We’ve had an excellent season but unfortunately we are stuck in 3rd. Both Shanghai teams are above us and they have been very consistent, losing only 1 game each all season.
Our next match is against Beijing Guoan who
are one place behind us in 4th. A win can practically assure us a spot
in Asian Champions League next season. We’re also in the semi-final of
the FA Cup, playing Shandong Taishan away later this month.
League Tables + Upcoming Matches
So how to get a
ticket?
The only official source is the Chengdu Rongcheng WeChat Mini-Program. For locals it’s easy enough to register however their system doesn’t accept passport numbers. As a foreigner you must contact the club customer service to ask them to manually input your details. This isn’t the only hurdle though; the tickets sell out almost immediately.
The sheer volume of people trying to buy tickets means the system always crashes. Even when you have selected the tickets and have them in your basket the payment screen often freezes and 3 minutes later while you are still trying to process your payment the tickets are already sold out. Tickets normally go on sale 2 days before the match, you might get lucky if you try at the exact time they go on sale.
Are there any other methods people can use to snag tickets?
Like most big events, tickets inevitably find their way into the hands of scalpers. The normal going
Are there any other methods people can use to snag tickets?
Like most big events, tickets inevitably find their way into the hands of scalpers. The normal going rate is 200-300 for a 100RMB electronic ticket but can be a lot more depending on the match.
The club have done a good job restricting these tickets by bringing in face ID and they hardly issue paper tickets anymore, but these measures added to the mini app registering problem have actually made it more difficult for foreigners to pick up tickets.
Is it possible to get tickets for away games?
Yeah, and it’s normally much easier than home matches. Most away matches you can buy home end tickets then enter the away end. There are very few CSL teams capable of attracting a sellout crowd. I recently went to away matches in Wuhan and Shenzhen. We took an impressive 3000 travelling fans to Wuhan, while there were only 8000 home fans. Similar story in Shenzhen, approximately 25,000 empty seats in the stadium.
How is the match day experience inside and outside the stadium?
The stadium is excellent and convenient to get to by metro. Outside there are lots of food and drinks vendors so it’s nice to get there early and have a few pre-match beers. Inside the stadium I think the atmosphere will honestly surprise most people.
Every match has 40,000+ fans and there are several singing sections / ultras groups. The Red Blades who stand behind the goal is just one such group and they have 4000 members. For anybody missing the atmosphere of live sports from their home country, they won’t be disappointed.
What home games are coming up?
As I mentioned, Beijing Guoan on September 14th will be a big game. We also have both Shanghai teams visiting before the end of the season. Shanghai Port are led by Brazilian star Oscar, one of the last big-name signings remaining from the mad money days of the CSL. Port are only two points ahead of Shanghai Shenhua, so that game could be pivotal in the title race.
Andy and friends of Chengdu Rongcheng FC
Author: Andy McAuley - the organiser of the Chengdu CIFL league and the Mini World Cup
Are you a fan?
Would you like to attend a game?
Let us know in the comment section!
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