Special correspondent Chen Wei reports On December 17th, the annual "Zhang Wei Feidong Campus Football Charity Tour" arrived as scheduled, which is the seventh consecutive year that Zhang Wei has entered the campus of Feidong to continue his public welfare football activities. This time, he still brought jerseys and soccer balls to the children, and he also gave a training session to the girls in the women's football team while he was recovering.

Zhang Wei said that he would continue to do this public welfare activity, and he has been fulfilling his promise. In the past seven years, Zhang Wei has traveled to Nanjing, Shanghai, Qingdao and Shenzhen, and has played in three clubs, but no matter where he is, Feidong County, Hefei City at the end of each year is where he must come. What he is most pleased with is that he has witnessed this group of children growing up slowly, and many of them are still insisting on playing, which makes him see the hope of the rise of Chinese football.

"I hope to bring more encouragement and support to the children. Although the road of football is long, I believe that every perseverance and hard work will bring the dream closer. Thank you to every child who has worked hard for their football dreams, and your future will be full of infinite possibilities because of football! Zhang Wei said.

◆"Football": This is the seventh time you have come to Feidong to do public welfare, and along the way, you still remember the bits and pieces of the past seven years. I would like to ask, when you started doing it in the first year, did you think that you would continue to do this until the seventh year?

Zhang Wei: Actually, from a personal point of view, when I did it for the first time, I didn't think that I could last so long, everyone said that ten years is like a day, and I also persisted for seven years. I think this sentence is the biggest motivation for me to keep going.

Although I didn't feel like I would be able to last that long when I first came, I remember that the first time I did promise to stick with it. This lasted for seven years in a blink of an eye! In the future, no matter whether I retire or not, no matter where I am, I will continue to do this, even if it is to make a small contribution to Chinese football, I will continue to do it.

Here, I would like to thank the Feidong County Education and Sports Bureau and the Feidong Football Association for their support, and at the same time, I would also like to thank Shenzhen Xinpengcheng Club for their support.

◆The seventh time you came to Feidong, you went to the Central School of Liangyuan School District and the No. 3 Middle School of Feidong County. It's not the first time you've been to any of these places, do you have any new feelings?

This is the fifth time I have been to the Central School of Liangyuan School District, in fact, every year I feel different, this time I obviously feel that the enthusiasm and love of football for these children is completely different. Their understanding and acceptance of football has improved again. When I came before, they may have been relatively small and had a limited understanding of football, but I was happy to see them grow and improve year by year.

Feidong County No. 3 Middle School was my first time here, but I remember these children because I saw them last year. I heard that they are now the model of "county team school run", which is very good, at least the children learn and train at the same time, which is the way that campus football should go. In fact, what touched me the most this time is that in such a cold weather, the women's football girls are still insisting on training, and I think that with this spirit of perseverance, the Chinese women's football team and Chinese football will slowly have hope and get better.

◆Song Kai, chairman of the Chinese Football Association, proposed that professional players must coach youth training before they can coach professional clubs after retiring. What do you think about this?

Chairman Song Kai's idea is actually out of the understanding of youth training, he believes that youth training needs more excellent coaches to produce results, youth coaches are often the lowest and most tired, few people are willing to do, so that good youth training can not be popularized, can only take the elite route. Youth training is the foundation of Chinese football, and it is also the only way for Chinese football to develop well.

When I was studying at the Football Academy of Tongji University, a teacher told us that he said where you came from and where you have to go back in the end. I think this sentence has a lot of meaning. Then I understand the most basic meaning is that I came out of the academy, then I will definitely return to the academy in the future. Therefore, I very much agree with President Song Kai's statement.

◆"Football": Shenzhen Xinpeng City will only succeed in relegation in the last round of the 2024 season, and it is too exciting to defeat its direct competitors.

Zhang Wei: Yes, our team was relegated in the last round this year, and both the process and the result looked quite thrilling. We are in the last round of relegation, and this season's Super League champion is also the last round to decide, and this year's league is indeed quite exciting.

In fact, we are also under a lot of pressure, if we had a little more concentration and a little more experience, I don't think it would have lasted so long to hover on the verge of relegation. In the new year, we will definitely learn from the experience, not make similar mistakes again, and strive for early relegation.

◆This season, the team suffered six consecutive defeats, which cast a shadow over your relegation, how did you adjust at the time?

Yes, in fact, this six-game losing streak has really had a big impact on us, and it has put a lot of pressure on our whole team, because we are full of confidence in relegation before the start of the league, but this kind of consecutive defeat is really frustrating and very demoralizing. When it comes to adjusting the mentality, in the process of six consecutive defeats, from the group to the club, the leaders are decompressing us, and the leaders say let us lose our burdens, let us not carry pressure on the field, play every game seriously, don't leave regrets for ourselves, and strive to reverse these bad momentum as soon as possible.

◆The key battle of relegation, in fact, you played very well, especially in the penultimate round, away against Shenhua, you fought for relegation, Shenhua fought for the championship, and finally you shook hands with the opponent 2-2 away, which also led to Shenhua losing the championship, how do you evaluate that game?

I didn't go to that game because of injury, I watched it in Shenzhen. Even though I wasn't there, I felt like we had a really good game. In this game, everyone has no way out, one is for the championship, and the other is for relegation. Judging from the process and results of the game, we did create a lot of difficulties for Shenhua. In fact, we prepared well from the pre-game, made a detailed analysis of the opponent, and played the 90 minutes according to the coach's technical and tactical requirements, and our teammates played very well.

◆Football: You've had a change of manager this season, what are some of the most memorable things about this season for you?

Zhang Wei: As you said, the 2024 season has really been up and down, and the number of winless rounds has put us under a lot of pressure, and the club has changed managers. But in my opinion, we have experienced bad times and good times, in fact, this is unavoidable as a new team in the Super League. As for the impressive thing, from the club's point of view, I think it is the home and away double defeat of Guoan, especially when we were able to overturn Guoan in the new Gongti, which is something that makes us very happy; In addition, in the penultimate round of the league, we drew with Shenhua away, and at the same time got 1 point, it also made Shenhua's championship situation very passive; Also, in July we didn't lose a month. The last one is my own, we play the Zhejiang team, I have a goal-line limit clearance, these are the pictures that impress me more.

◆You came to Shenzhen from Sichuan, and you have a new home stadium, how do you feel about getting along with the city of Shenzhen and the fans of this team after a season of running-in?

Our team arrived in this very inclusive city, and it felt very good, and Shenzhen didn't have a slogan, "If you come, you are a Shenzhener". However, we have only just begun to get along with the city, and we still need to integrate more, bring more exciting competitions to the city, and see more and understand more about the culture of this city.

◆In 2025, you will be in the second year of the Chinese Super League, as a veteran of the Chinese Super League, you must know the curse of the second year of the Chinese Super League, how do you see the team's prospects for next season?

Yes, I know about this so-called spell. Although there is such a statement, I think it is just a statement. Although we will be in the second year next year, we will break this curse through the efforts of the whole team and under the leadership of the coach, and strive for early relegation and better results. Overall, I think we will have more confidence next season.

◆Can you sum up your performance in the 2024 season in one sentence?

In the 2024 season, I feel that I have continued to play steadily, and as a member of the team, I will come to the team to help the team and use my own efforts to help the team get better results.