On November 21, the press conference for the 2025 Huai’an Football City League (hereinafter the “Event” or “Huaichao 2025”) was held to introduce the event’s organization and preparations and to announce key details on competition formats and supporting cultural and tourism activities of interest to football fans and local residents.
The Event aims to advance the popularization and development of football, nurture a strong football foundation, foster football culture, and further expand Huai’an’s football player base. It seeks to strengthen the talent reserves, identify outstanding players, and comprehensively raise the city’s football standards. Additionally, it strives to establish a new sports development paradigm characterized by mass participation, integration of sports and education, and talent emergence, while driving the coordinated development of culture, commerce, tourism, and sports.
Huaichao 2025 will feature one representative team from each of Qingjiangpu District, Huai’an District, Huaiyin District, Hongze District, Lianshui County, Xuyi County, Jinhu County, Huai’an Economic and Technological Development Zone, and Huai’an Industrial Park—achieving full coverage of “one home venue per county/district.” Through exciting matches between these teams, Huaichao 2025 will foster regional pride, promote local culture, unite community strength, and ignite enthusiasm for public fitness.
To ensure fairness and maximize spectator appeal, the tournament is divided into group and ranking stages held over two months, with a total of 20 matches primarily scheduled on weekends. The group stage runs from November 29 to December 28, 2025, and the ranking stage from January 1 to 11, 2026. Nine teams will be divided into Groups A and B for a home-and-away single round-robin format, featuring five rounds and 16 matches in total—each team guaranteed at least one home game. The top two teams from each group will advance to the ranking stage, conducted as a single-elimination knockout to determine the champion, runner-up, and third place across four matches. Guided by principles of “safety, stability, excitement, and success,” Huaichao 2025 will implement a comprehensive support system to ensure the event is professionally managed, standardized, and conducted at a high quality. Through commercial operations, it aims to achieve both economic gains and social benefits.
Building on the successful experience of the "Jiangsu Football City League," clear player eligibility criteria for Huaichao 2025 have been established: participants must be between 16 and 40 years old; hold Huai’an household registration with proof of uninterrupted social security contributions in Huai’an from January 2025; non-resident students must have local student status, while recent graduates must provide uninterrupted social security contributions from July 2025 or possess an ID starting with “3208.” Each team may register up to two professional players who must meet at least one of the following: ID number starting with “3208,” current Huai’an household registration, current Huai’an student status, or five or more years of study or work experience in Huai’an. Players who have represented Huai’an in the "Jiangsu Football City League" are ineligible to participate. Furthermore, each team can field no more than four non-resident university players simultaneously during matches, and the number of players under 18 on the field must be between two and six.
Player registration concluded smoothly on November 15 with 332 qualified participants across nine teams, including four professionals and 328 amateurs from diverse backgrounds. Ages range from 16 to 40, with 64 players under 18, reflecting broad participation and the vibrant vitality of local football.
To enhance the Event’s influence, share the "Huai’an Football City League" story, and showcase Huai’an’s image, the Event's organizing committee launched an open call for the Huai’an Football City League’s theme slogan and logo, receiving 2,950 slogan submissions and 211 logo designs. The winning slogan is: "Embrace Dreams, Surpass the Future." The logo, centered on the initials “HC,” incorporates imagery of sailboats, green fields, and a football. It creatively blends Huai’an’s cultural identity as the “Canal Capital” with the dynamic spirit of football, using a rich color gradient to symbolize Huaichao’s spirit of diversity, integration, and city-wide collaboration—embodying the city’s passionate energy.
All matches of Huaichao 2025 will be live-streamed via Huai’an Radio and Television, WeChat official accounts of “Huai’an News Release” and “Huai’an Online”, and the “Authentic Huai’an” and “Huai’an Culture & Tourism” Douyin accounts. This multi-platform approach creates an immersive, interactive experience connecting online and offline audiences to enhance fan engagement and enjoyment throughout the league.