The 4th Nansha Men's Football League Kicks Off

On the evening of September 13, the 2026 4th Nansha Men's Football League kicked off at the International Finance Island Football Park. The event attracted 21 local teams from Nansha, with 478 players participating, and will run from September through December.

Match Venue

courtesy of the event organizer

This league retains the promotion and relegation system between Division A and Division B. The Division B matches will take place from September to October, with qualifying teams decided via round-robin and knockout matches. Division A competitions will be held from November to December. Six teams that were promoted to Division A last season will compete alongside the two champions from Division B for the ultimate title. Held for four consecutive years with a multi-month schedule and the Division A-B promotion and relegation mechanism, the Nansha Men's Football League has gradually developed into a relatively stable local football competition system.

Zheng Xuebin, captain of the Nansha Association for the Promotion of Knowledge-and-Democracy football team, has taken part in all four editions of the tournament. He has witnessed firsthand the development of football in Nansha. "In the first edition, there were far fewer participants. Now more and more people are playing football, and the overall standard keeps rising," he said.

Guangzhou Leopard Football Club has deep ties with Nansha, as the club is registered here. Its head coach, team leader and players have joined local football promotion activities, strengthening football-related interaction between the professional club and its place of registration.

Since the start of this year, Nansha has kept upgrading and expanding sports venues, adding over 100,000 square metres of new sports facilities. Meanwhile, Nansha's sports facilities are drawing visitors from further afield. Growing numbers of residents from Shenzhen, Foshan, Zhongshan, Hong Kong and Macao come to Nansha for sports activities on weekends.

This year's league also helps drive local consumption. During the tournament, participating players can enjoy exclusive offers at many local merchants in sports, catering, accommodation, and cultural tourism by showing their player credentials. After matches, players can work out, dine out or spend leisure time with friends. In this way, steady foot traffic generated by the tournament is further converted into consumer spending.