2026 Xiang Super League Opener Draws 37,000 Fans; State Council Sets 7 Trillion Yuan Sports Goal by 2030

On July 25, 2026, the opening match of the Hunan Provincial Football League (Xiang Super) was held in Changsha, with over 37,000 fans in attendance. Recently, provincial football leagues such as Yue Super and Su Super have seen sustained increases in popularity. Shenzhen resident Lu Xing embarked on a tour of Guangdong to watch matches following the Yue Super schedule, booking 8.8 yuan tickets each week and, after being selected in the lottery, traveling to a different city on weekends to attend a game.

During the 2026 May Day holiday, Su Super events drove 37.6 million tourist visits to key monitored cultural and tourism scenic spots in Jiangsu, up 7.2% year-on-year; consumption in cultural tourism monitored by UnionPay reached 43 billion yuan, up 6.7% year-on-year, forming a closed loop of spending on watching matches, traveling, dining, and accommodation. In August 2025, the General Office of the State Council issued the "Opinions on Unleashing Sports Consumption Potential and Further Promoting High-Quality Development of the Sports Industry," proposing to cultivate a number of world-influential sports enterprises and events by 2030, with the total scale of the sports industry exceeding 7 trillion yuan. Provinces including Jiangsu, Guangdong, and Hubei have introduced special policies to support the development of local brand events through financial awards, loan interest subsidies, special bond support, and lottery public welfare fund allocations.

In the 2026 new season, football leagues such as Yue Super and Su Super have undergone comprehensive optimization in dimensions including schedule arrangement, competition rules, venue management, safety guarantees, and fan services. The central stadium of the Shenzhen Youth Football Training Base has hosted multiple Yue Super matches; the venue can accommodate 8,000 people and is basically full during regular season games. Outside the stadium, a league market has been set up, with various beverages and cultural and creative products favored by consumers, and nearby barbecue restaurants have seen customer traffic double compared to normal days. Shenzhen Metro Line 13 Phase 2 (northern extension) recently opened, allowing citizens to walk just a few hundred meters from the station to the stadium. This season, Su Super has extended its schedule to cover spring, summer, and autumn, and has increased the proportion of young players on the field.

This season, Su Super has assembled multiple enterprises including Bank of Jiangsu, Jiangsu Soho Holding Group, and Heilan Home to form an event sponsorship matrix. Heilan Home has leveraged Su Super events to create an integrated online and offline marketing system. Guanxu Electronics spent 10 million yuan to obtain exclusive naming rights for this year's Yue Super. Yuanlong Yatu has partnered with the Su Super IP operator to launch Su Super commemorative cultural and creative products. Jiangsu Cable has deeply explored the high-quality Su Super sports IP, amplifying the event's influence through full-event dissemination, cross-screen linkage, and integration of culture, commerce, sports, and tourism. Lisheng Yundong has built a full-chain "watch + experience" event service model, cultivating local event IPs in combination with regional characteristics.

Jiangsu has leveraged its "event + tourism" model to create six national-level outdoor sports premium routes, 39 China Sports Tourism Boutique Projects, and 25 Yangtze River Delta sports consumption innovation excellent cases. Through its "event + manufacturing" model, Jiangsu has formed differentiated characteristic industry clusters including outdoor clothing fabrics in Suzhou, sports bicycles in Kunshan, fitness equipment and ball products in Nantong, and outdoor gear in Yangzhou.