China News Service, Beihai, November 13 (Zhai Liqiang) The men's football event of the 16th Guangxi Sports Games staged a special scene on November 12. The finals of the U13-15 and U16-18 groups were against both sides, both the host Beihai City team and the Liuzhou City team. Both finals ultimately decided the championship through a penalty shootout, with each city winning one championship.
On November 12, in the U16-18 group final of the men’s football competition of the 16th Guangxi Sports Games, the Beihai City team faced the Liuzhou City team. Photo by Zhai Liqiang
This football match included representative teams from 13 districts and cities in Guangxi, and hundreds of young players participated in the nine-day competition. It was a centralized review of the results of Guangxi's integrated sports and education youth training.
In the U13-15 final that day, the Beihai City team and the Liuzhou City team drew 0:0 in regular time, and the Beihai City team won the penalty shootout. In the U16-18 final, the Beihai City team scored the first goal, leading 1:0 in the first half. In the second half, the Liuzhou City team tied the score to 1:1. In the end, the Liuzhou City team won through a penalty shootout. The women's U13-15 finals that have been completed a few days ago also pitted Beihai against Liuzhou, with Beihai winning in the end.
Yan Zhiming, head coach of the Beihai City team in the men's U13-15 group, said that Beihai's style of play is mainly agile and fast, while Liuzhou has more advantages in physical confrontation and has a tenacious style. Both sides have their own characteristics.
On November 12, in the U13-15 group final of the men’s football competition of the 16th Guangxi Sports Games, the Beihai City team faced the Liuzhou City team. Photo by Zhai Liqiang
Beihai is known as the "Football City of Guangxi". It is the place where modern football developed earlier in Guangxi and has a profound foundation of folk football. On the campus football track, Beihai also started early. Official data shows that Beihai currently has 1.1 football fields per 10,000 people. As of 2025, the city has added 4 new national youth campus football specialty schools, and a total of 78 primary and secondary schools and 20 kindergartens have been rated as football specialty schools at all levels, building a normalized training and regular competition system covering preschool, primary school, and middle school, and connecting urban and rural areas.
Although Liuzhou football started later than Beihai, in terms of youth football, relying on the reform of integrating sports and education, Guangxi took the lead in establishing a four-level league system of class, school level, county (district) level, and municipal level, becoming another pole in Guangxi football. Official data shows that in 2025, among the 491 primary and secondary schools in Liuzhou City, 257 will have football class leagues, among which the coverage rate of high school boys, high school girls, and junior high girls all ranks first in Guangxi.
On November 12, in the U16-18 group final of the men’s football competition of the 16th Guangxi Sports Games, the Beihai City team faced the Liuzhou City team. Photo by Zhai Liqiang
As the two traditional strong cities in Guangxi football territory, the teams of Beihai and Liuzhou have long met frequently at the Guangxi Student Games, the District Youth Football Championship, the Campus Football League, the Guangxi County Super League and other competition stages. They have won and lost each other and are evenly matched, forming one of the most interesting confrontations in Guangxi football.
In 2016, the two sides drew in regular time in the football match (middle school group) of the 11th Guangxi Student Games, with Liuzhou defending the title on penalty kicks; in 2022, Beihai defeated Liuzhou in the men's Group A semifinals of the 15th Guangxi Games; In the 2025-2026 Guangxi County Super Football League, the Liunan District team of Liuzhou City faced the Hepu County team and Haicheng District team of Beihai City in the semi-finals and finals, and ultimately defeated their opponents through penalty shootouts.
It is worth mentioning that Beihai City and Liuzhou City have both been approved as national youth football talent training reform pilot areas. At this sports meeting, the teams from Beihai and Liuzhou successively staged peak duels, which is not only a confirmation of the strength of the youth training in the two places, but also a continuation of the development of Guangxi football, adding a lot of color to the event. (over)
