Barracuda Bay wants to compete for "the first home of the Chinese Super League"

Special correspondent Ding Xu reports After a four-week break, a new round of the Chinese Super League will be rekindled this weekend, with Dalian InBev Haifa hosting Changchun Yatai in the third round. This game is not only the first home game of the Chinese Super League in the history of Dalian InBev, but also the only dialogue between the two Northeast teams in the Chinese Super League at this stage. In the past season, InBev has repeatedly set new records for the number of spectators, and after being promoted to the Chinese Super League, the team will compete with Beijing Guoan and Chengdu Rongcheng for the honor of "the first ball market in the Chinese Super League". Xie Hui, who had coached the Dalian team, revisited his hometown and became the most watched figure in this game.

In the 2024 season, although InBev is only a Chinese league team, it has repeatedly set new records for the number of spectators and become the focus of attention in Chinese football. Last season, InBev had 632805 live crowds at home, which was 2.24 times that of Yunnan Yukun, which ranked second. In the final match of the 2024 Chinese Football League, Dalian InBev played Shanghai Jiading Huilong at home, the number of spectators was 60,951, and the number of spectators exceeded 60,000 for the second time in the history of the Chinese Professional Football League, second only to the record of 65,769 set by the Nanjing Division of the Chinese Super League in the 2012 season. 60,951, this number has once again refreshed the highest record in the history of the Chinese League.

The average number of spectators per game at InBev in 2024 is 42,187, and if the first game against Chongqing Tonglianglong in Puwan is excluded, the average number of spectators per game in Barracuda Bay will be as high as 44,070. In the 2024 Chinese Super League, Beijing Guoan and Chengdu Rongcheng will become the top two teams in terms of average audience per game, with an average audience of 46,444 for Gongti and 38,818 for Phoenix Mountain. In the 2024 season of China's third-level professional league, InBev is second only to Guoan in terms of average audience per game at home.

What will happen to Dalian InBev's ball market in the new season? It's bound to be hot! Dalian InBev New Season Annual Ticket is divided into six levels, namely: 4500 yuan, 1800 yuan, 1500 yuan, 1200 yuan, 1000 yuan, and 699 yuan. The total sales volume of annual passes, including ordinary annual passes and business annual passes, is only 12,456 sets, and they were sold out as early as February 14, the day the tickets were opened, and the enthusiasm of Dalian fans to watch the game is still high. Before the epidemic, Dalian Yifang's Chinese Super League home stadium average was 33,145 in 2018 and 32,853 in 2019, ranking third only after Evergrande and Guoan. Even in the 2023 season when Dalian Renren was relegated, the average number of spectators per game at home (18,031) was among the top six.

Coincidentally, Guoan, the direct competitor of Dalian InBev's "No. 1 home of the Chinese Super League", will also make its home debut in this round. According to the usual practice, the number of spectators at the first home stadium of Dalian football season will not be small, InBev Haifa also has the blessing of Barracuda Bay Professional Football Stadium, and more importantly, Xie Hui's "return" will also attract traffic.

On March 19, 2022, Dalian Professional Club officially announced the appointment of Xie Hui as the head coach. It is no exaggeration to say that the 2022 season has been a return from hell to heaven for the Dalian team. Dalian Renren team returned before the opening of the new season of the Chinese Super League, and Xie Hui, who originally led the team to play in the Chinese Super League, became the head coach of the Chinese Super League team for the first time. Although it is an "all-Chinese class" lineup without foreign aid, the Dalian team played a pleasing football in the Haikou division and became a clear stream in Chinese football. "Pressing and fighting" has become a hot word, and fans across the country have also praised the Dalian team and Xie Hui. In addition to the game itself, Xie Hui frequently issued golden sentences in the press conference before and after the game, but the original "walking form" has become a must-see program for Dalian fans.

After 10 rounds, the Chinese Super League gradually resumed the home-and-away system, and Xie Hui won a tsunami of fans at the home stadium of Dalian Renren. With the efforts of all parties, the Dalian team completed the relegation task 6 rounds ahead of schedule, and Xie Hui was praised by all parties and was selected as a shortlist for the 2022 China Golden Shuai Award, and he also reached the peak of his coaching career so far.

However, Xie Hui did not escape the "second-grade curse". In the 2023 season of the Chinese Super League, the Dalian team only scored 20 points throughout the year, and the Dalian team led by Xie Hui only defeated Nantong Zhiyun, Shanghai Shenhua, and Shenzhen at home.

After the Dalian team was relegated and disbanded, Dalian fans had different evaluations of Xie Hui. Some fans bluntly said: No matter what, leading the team to win only three games in a season, Xie Hui is the culprit! The "Bao Xie faction" believes that the Dalian team will be banned from recruiting in the whole season of 2023, the strength of foreign aid is quite average, and the domestic players have no advantage. Some more neutral fans believe that the dissolution of the Dalian team is not something that Xie Hui can control, but if the team is not relegated, it remains to be said whether it will be disbanded.

Some fans said: "In the middle and late stages of 2023, the management of Dalian Ren Club has suddenly changed, making the club and the team always in a state of turmoil and instability, Xie Hui cannot reverse the decline by himself, but in hindsight, if the last game can defeat Shanghai Port in Barracuda Bay, then Dalian Ren will be relegated." Dalian Renren was still in a favorable situation of leading 2-0 in the first 56 minutes, and was finally reversed and lost 2-3. Dalian Renren team went from a two-goal lead to a painful loss, Xie Hui has an unshirkable responsibility, and he also owes Dalian fans an apology. ”

Objectively speaking, Xie Hui and InBev have no grievances, and even almost no intersection, but because of objective reasons, most Dalian fans are "city loyalists", and some fans have never been able to let go of Xie Hui's relegation of the Dalian team. This time, Xie Hui led Yatai back to Dalian, although it was not to face the old master, but it was also a revisit. The welcome ceremony is out of the question, and the Barracuda Bay Stadium will put considerable pressure on Xie Hui and Yatai.

According to the club's ticketing announcement, the ticketing time for the match between Dalian InBev Haifa and Yatai is 14 o'clock today (March 24), and the tickets are divided into six grades: 300 yuan, 180 yuan, 150 yuan, 120 yuan, 100 yuan and 60 yuan. According to past experience and reality, it is a high probability that the tickets for this game will be "lost in seconds" after the ticket is issued. "It's going to be a test of the fans' ability to fight for speed." A staff member of the InBev Club said. It is foreseeable that the 63,000-seat Barracuda Bay Stadium will be packed for Saturday's game, excluding the safe areas.