Qu Xiaohui: The support of all parties makes me full of confidence in Dalian Kuncheng 2025

Reporter Chen Yong reports At the end of 2004, 17-year-old Qu Xiaohui entered the Liaoning team, and Yu Hanchao and Yang Xu entered the Liaoning team before and after. These famous players in Chinese football are all classmates of Qu Xiaohui at Dalian Northeast Road Primary School. At that time, they had similar goals in life.

20 years later, the life trajectories of the old classmates no longer coincide: Yang Xu took his son to play football in Japan, and began to study the development law of Japanese football in depth, and at the same time made suggestions and suggestions to Chinese football; Yu Hanchao is still fighting on the front line of the professional league, and he has scored five goals and provided five assists in the league after averaging only 22 minutes per game, and he also scored and assisted in the AFC Champions League. Yu Hanchao perfectly fulfilled the saying "there is an old man in the family, if there is a treasure......

In terms of career, Qu Xiaohui is far less successful than his teammates. After leaving Liaozu in 2014, he began to move around the secondary league, and in recent years, he has gradually completed the transformation: in the 2024 season of the Chinese Second League, Qu Xiaohui led the team to the first league as the general manager of Dalian Kuncheng, and in the later stage of the league, he also entered the coaching staff to take on the responsibility of coaching.

◆Football: As a team promoted from the second division, how did you prepare for the second division at the beginning of the season?

Qu Xiaohui: The replacement list and admission list for the 2024 season will be determined before the Spring Festival. After the access, it will be the New Year, and as soon as we go to work after the New Year, we will start to implement the work of preparing for the second year. At that time, the time was very tight, whether it was preparation or reinforcements, it was very rushed.

On March 3 of this year, we set the goal of reaching the first division, and on the basis of completing this goal, we will set the next goal. This is a critical point in time. Once this goal is set, reinforcements must be cooperated. At that time, we were only given five days, as the transfer window for the second division closed on March 8.

At that time, we went to Guangdong for training, so when we brought in reinforcements, some of the signings were completed without the two sides meeting, and some players did not know each other, so we could only check through their previous resumes. On March 17, we will play in the FA Cup, and on March 23, the league will officially start.

In this process, Director Zhao (head coach Zhao Faqing) did a lot of work, and when the team had to control the amount of training, he tried his best to run in the skills and tactics, and also formulated a style of play that suited our situation at the time. At the beginning of the league we were on the defensive side, which is something we can't do and if we were given a little more time, everything would have been different. At that time, we also set a strategy, we must stick to it, and then make reinforcements when the second transfer comes.

Because the preparation is not sufficient, and the reinforcements are not sufficient, when we appear in the second division, there are many problems in the physical condition of the players, technical and tactical running-in. But what makes us very pleased is that our luck is actually good, the first two games are away, the first game is and Langfang City of Glory, the opponent is the champion of the Champions League, we are at a disadvantage in the game, but we won the game, the second away is to play Shandong Taishan B team, the opponent is young and energetic, and there are tens of thousands of fans cheering, we are also very passive, but use experience to win the game.

After this good start, in the first 12 rounds, we ranked third in the North Division with 6 wins, 3 draws and 3 losses, and the overall results were satisfactory, but there were also many regrets due to insufficient preparation in the preparation period.

◆During the second transfer period, the squad was fully strengthened, and the team also established the goal of rushing to the first division at that time, right?

Yes, we have introduced a total of 10 players during the second transfer period, which is the team with the largest number of transfers in the second division, and the goal of rushing to the first division has naturally been established.

Among these 10 players, there is Chen Jiaqi, who has rich experience in the first division, and the competition for him is very fierce, and we finally signed him. Ren Wei, Cui Hao, and Bai Hetiar returned to the team, Chen Rong had previously played in Dalian, and Song Chen officially returned to his hometown. Dalian nationality or Dalian elements is one of the important principles of our recruitment. In addition, we have brought in Zhong Ziqin and Huo Liang, as well as Yuan Hao and Li Zhen on loan from Dalian InBev.

After the reinforcement, the team still has to face the problem of running-in, so the team's record did not rebound quickly after the second turn, and the 10 rounds of games were 4 wins, 2 draws and 4 losses, and it once slipped to the middle and lower reaches of the championship group. As the game progressed, the team became more and more mature, and finally ushered in a six-game winning streak in the closing stage and successfully promoted to the Chinese League.

◆Football: Looking back on the football journey of Dalian Kuncheng, how do you feel?

Qu Xiaohui: Our club was established in 2022, when it competed in the Chinese Champions League but failed to qualify. In 2023, we are the seventh place in the Chinese Championship, and we will succeed in the end. In fact, the first two years were not easy, and in the 2023 season we faced very big difficulties, even to the point of being forced to give up, but we persevered.

Success is the result of all of us working together. Investor and chairman Li Jundou showed 100% feelings, and our salaries and bonuses were paid on time. Therefore, everyone in the club has the belief that we must fight for the first team, so that we can finally succeed in the counterattack in a passive situation.

◆What are your plans for the future? Have faith?

Since we are standing on the stage of the Chinese League, we will continue to dedicate wonderful games to Dalian fans. Dalian is a football city with a long football history and a strong football atmosphere, and of course it must occupy an important position in the development of Chinese football. Our club, including our brother club Dalian InBev, will work hard for this.

We will pragmatically treat the 2025 season of the Chinese League, two consecutive years to the second and first division, we go fast, then in the Chinese League, we must first stand firm and lay a solid foundation. On the premise of continuing to improve the strength of the team, we will continue to maintain our Dalian characteristics, and at the same time let our team gradually rejuvenate. In the middle league, we must also gradually improve our echelon and lay a good foundation for future development.

At present, we are also planning for the winter training, in addition to strengthening the local squad, there are also important work such as the introduction of foreign aid, which are being promoted in an orderly manner.

◆What is the financial situation of the club?

On the one hand, our investors are very affectionate and have paid a lot; On the other hand, the Dalian Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government have a very strong support for football, and there are corresponding rewards for the Super League and the First Division, including the corresponding support for the teams competing in the Chinese Super League and the Chinese League. At the symposium a few days ago, we were also very moved by Dalian's development plan for football and its care for the two professional clubs.

On November 30th, Jinpu New District held a separate symposium for our club to express its firm support for our club, which made us more confident. We believe that with the support of the government and the efforts of investors, we will definitely win more honors for Dalian football. Of course, as our club itself, we must also hand in a good answer sheet in terms of business development and fan building.

◆Football: Personally, what was the process of going from player to general manager?

Qu Xiaohui: I played until 2022, when the team played in the Chinese Champions League, and I also served as a player, and I insisted on playing for half a year, but unfortunately I was not fully prepared at that time and failed to qualify. From the start of the 2023 season, I will be completely transformed.

From a player who only needs to concentrate on playing football to a general manager, it has changed a lot, and the training in the past few years has also been very big. Actually, I originally wanted to be a coach, but in the 2023 season, the chairman of the board of directors gave me the club and asked me to be in charge, so naturally I want to do this job well.

My career has been quite bumpy, but on the other hand, playing in the professional league since I was 18 years old, I have been at so many clubs, I have experienced a lot of things, and I have encountered a lot of setbacks, which is actually a very valuable asset.

◆You were involved with the coaching staff in the second half of the season, how was it going?

Director Zhao put in a lot of effort in the first half of the season, and in the second half of the season, we were faced with the task of rushing to the first division, in order to further strengthen the coaching staff, and in order to further motivate the players, the club asked me to join the coaching staff as the general manager. In the process, our coaching staff was very united and finally accomplished this task together.

◆Have you been in touch with your old teammates a lot lately? Yu Hanchao and Yang Xu are now both popular figures in Chinese football.

Everyone has always been in touch with each other, including Yu Hanchao, Yang Xu, Zhao Mingjian, and Zhang Chi, who is currently playing in the Taishan team, and so on. Yu Hanchao is still doing well at the age of 37 and I am especially happy for him, every time he appears, it is exciting. Zhao Mingjian helped Dalian InBev to achieve a breakthrough and contributed to the development of Dalian football. Yang Xu has recently been discussing the development of Japanese football and the development of Chinese football, and this kind of thinking and discussion is very meaningful.

Every generation of footballers has their own responsibilities, and the development of Chinese football has not been very smooth in recent years, so as far as we are concerned, we need to do things seriously, start from little by little, and contribute our own strength to Chinese football.