Soccer sensation

Yang said the club's opening would bring a group of young Brazilian players to Rongjiang, where they would play in games and teach soccer in primary and secondary schools.

"We aim to offer more children the chance to use soccer as a way to … open up greater opportunities for their future," Yang said.

Soccer in Rongjiang extends beyond the Village Super League. In the 1990s, locals spontaneously organized matches on openair fields. Today, Rongjiang has 14 standard soccer pitches, 35 registered teams, 14 national-level youth specialist soccer schools and 41 county-level specialist soccer schools, according to Chinese media reports.