The 43-year-old veteran hits the National Games championship! Li Jianhua: Change the track and continue to heat up

Reporter Wang Wei reports On the morning of May 16, the departure ceremony of the Guangdong team of the 15th National Games mass competition football project was held at Guangzhou Institute of Physical Education. At the departure ceremony, there was a former international player, he is Li Jianhua, who has played in the professional teams of Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Meixian three Guangdong cities, and the 43-year-old will participate in the five-a-side men's veteran group of the five-a-side men's veteran group in the mass competition of the 15th National Games as a retired player.

After leaving the professional football field, Andy has now turned into a grassroots football expert, and he hopes to make his own contribution to the inheritance of football in different ways and continue to shine on another track.

It was the first time for Li Jianhua to participate in the mass competition football event of the National Games, but he said that he would work hard with his teammates to challenge for the championship at home.

Li Jianhua, who retired in early 2020, is 43 years old, and he has represented many Guangdong teams such as Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Meixian in professional leagues, and has won Chinese Super League titles in Shenzhen and Guangzhou. This year, he will participate in the five-a-side veteran group of the mass competition of the National Games as a player of the Meizhou Wuhua team, which is also his first official event in the five-a-side competition.

The mass competition football events of the 15th National Games will be held from May 23 to August 10 this year in Foshan, Zhuhai, Zhanjiang, Meizhou and Yangjiang. Meizhou Wuhua will represent Guangdong in the five-a-side men's veteran competition, which will be held in Meizhou from July 3 to July 9. As the most well-known member of the team, Li Jianhua will fight in his hometown.

"It is a great honour for me to be able to represent the host Guangdong team in the five-a-side veteran group and to be able to play in my hometown. I'm looking forward to this race and hopefully we can get a good result." Li Jianhua said.

During this time, Li Jianhua and his teammates have been preparing for the competition in Shenzhen and Meizhou. "Our team is made up of players from all over Guangdong, because everyone usually has their own jobs, and it is not easy to train and play together," Li Jianhua told reporters, "but we will definitely go all out and sprint towards the goal of the championship." ”

At the age of 20, he represented Shenzhen Ping An in the A League, at the age of 22, he won the Chinese Super League championship on behalf of Shenzhen Jianlibao, and at the age of 29, he won the Chinese Super League championship on behalf of the Guangzhou team. In 2020, Li Jianhua chose to retire when he was 38 years old.

Although he left the professional arena, Li Jianhua never left the sport of football. After retiring, in addition to serving as an assistant coach of the Shenzhen team for a short time, Li Jianhua devoted more time to social football events, such as the Shenzhen Super League and the Shenzhen Street Super League, using his practical actions to convey the spirit of football, hoping to attract more people to participate in football.

"Now I am mainly doing public welfare work in football promotion, and I hope to make achievements in this area and contribute to the inheritance of football." Li Jianhua said.

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Li Jianhua, who has been selected for the national team and won the top league championship, has already made a name for himself as a player, and after leaving the professional arena, he has never been able to give up his feelings for football, and has been active in the social football field in Shenzhen.

In the 2024 Shenzhen Super League, Li Jianhua led the Shenzhen Xingmeng Xiaoli team to win the championship, and he was also named the best coach of the Shenzhen Super League, which is the highest football honor Li Jianhua has won outside the professional arena.

After retiring, Li Jianhua participated in the training of popularizing youth football in Shenzhen, and at the same time organized football enthusiasts to promote football in remote towns and cities with underdeveloped football. Li Jianhua said, "We will organize some competitions to let them feel the atmosphere of football, bring potential children to Shenzhen, and create an opportunity for children to walk the road of football." ”

In the past two years, Li Jianhua has gone to Zhanjiang, Yunfu, Heyuan, Meizhou and other places to promote football, and also contacted Shenzhen entrepreneurs who are enthusiastic about football to provide football equipment and sports equipment for schools and children in remote and backward areas, and effectively help those children who like football. "We want everyone to feel that grassroots football is also followed and supported, and let everyone believe that through grassroots football, there is also a career path." Li Jianhua told reporters.

Now because of his participation in the Shenzhen Super League and Shenzhen Street Super League, Li Jianhua and his former teammates Yuan Lin, Huang Nanfu and other teammates have reunited, and they represent the same amateur team. "We have known each other for twenty or thirty years, and we all live in Shenzhen. I discussed a topic with Yuan Lin and Huang Nanfu, that is, what can we do for Shenzhen football and the sport of football? In the end, we reached a consensus to do practical things to help football develop better in Shenzhen, so that young people in Shenzhen can get a good training through amateur football platforms such as Street Super and Shenzhen Super League, and have better development in the future. In recent years, some young players who have trained in our team have been favored by the Shenzhen Xinpeng City echelon when they were taking the single-recruitment examination for higher education, and they have really entered the professional league system. In addition, we have also sent several players to the Shenzhen team participating in the Chinese Championship. ”

Today, Shenzhen football has formed a four-tier league team participation system of the Chinese Championship, the Chinese Second Division, the Chinese First Division and the Chinese Super League, which also provides fertile ground for the development of amateur football.

"Several competitions organized by the Shenzhen Football Association are basically based on 11-a-side football, which shows that the mass foundation of Shenzhen football is relatively thick." Li Jianhua said, "In Shenzhen, there are many enterprises and non-governmental organizations that will form teams to participate in the municipal amateur league, including us. Even though I'm 43 years old now, I still like to play football, whether it's Shenzhen Super League or Shenzhen Street Super League, I participate in it, and I also score goals, so I enjoy participating in events like this. I've always had the idea of bringing the attitude of a professional player to the amateur game. ”

During his time playing for Guangzhou football, Li Jianhua was once evaluated by Li Zhangzhu as a very professional Guangdong player, and the spur of the old Li is still deeply imprinted in Li Jianhua's heart. "As soon as I'm on the pitch, no matter how old I am, I want to show my professionalism and attitude and make people feel that people who have played professional football are different. If you love football and if you want to be able to play at my age, then you have to focus on discipline off the pitch and be in good physical condition. The way of self-management, which is also part of football. "I still have the same life as I played professionally after I retired, and it has more or less affected the people around me. When I play in social football, I may not be as physical and energetic as the younger players, but as long as I play for one minute, I have to fight for one minute and maintain my professional attitude. When I participated in the Shenzhen Super League last year, I emphasized that my players should be 100% committed every minute on the field, and in the end, we successfully won the championship. ”

In Li Jianhua's eyes, it is precisely because of Shenzhen's strong campus football and amateur football atmosphere that the emergence of future stars has been created, "For example, Wang Yudong, who was trained from Shenzhen Bao'an Oriental Primary School, has gone to professional teams and national teams through the tempering of different platforms such as campus football, youth football, amateur football, and professional football." This will play a good demonstration effect, and through the amateur event platform, there will be opportunities for better development in the future. ”

After 18 years of playing professional football, Li Jianhua thinks that it is very suitable for him to participate in grassroots football, he said that this is a way for him to give back to football, "Otherwise, the experience I have accumulated in three or four hundred professional tournaments will be wasted." He said.

Li Jianhua's best friend Gao Lin has also begun to participate in football coaching training courses and participate in the coaching of national youth teams.

"Gao Lin has the ability to become a professional coach, and the future is promising. Some time ago, I met and talked with Gao Lin in the first Bay Area Football Champions League of Shenzhen Street Super League, and he was very supportive of my promotion of grassroots football and amateur football in Shenzhen. It's a reward for football and society, and I'm going to keep doing that. Li Jianhua said.