On the afternoon of October 9, in the second round of the 2025 Wuhan City Football Super League (University Group), the Jianghan University Men’s Football Team (JHU Team) defeated the title favorite Wuhan Sports University Men’s Football Team (WSU Team) 5-4 on home soil after a 4-3 penalty shootout, successfully securing two consecutive wins in the game.
Li Weidong, vice president of Jianghan University, kicked off the game and watched the entire match with teachers and students to cheer for the JHU athletes.
The 2025 Wuhan City Football Super League (referred to as “Hanchao” or HCSL) adopts a dual-track competition system with a District Division and a University Division. A total of 8 universities including Jianghan University, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan University, Wuhan University of Technology, Central China Normal University, Wuhan Sports University, Wuhan City Polytechnic and Wuchang Polytechnic College participate in the University Division, using a home-and-away single round-robin system. As one of the biggest title favorites in this tournament, WSU Team won a landslide 4:1 victory over Wuhan University Team in the first round and ranked second in the standings only due to the disadvantage of goal difference.
In the first half, WSU Team started strong away from home, showing the demeanor of a title favorite. They firmly controlled the situation on the field with excellent individual skill and continuously attacked JHU Team’s defense line. Facing WSU Team’s high press, the players of JHU Team strictly implemented the tactics and weathered the opponent’s threatening attacks many times. It was not until the 31st minute of the first half that JHU Team’s defense made a critical error with a mistimed offside trap., which was seized by WSU Team to break the deadlock. After that, the players of JHU Team showed strong resilience and continuously tried to counterattack to threaten the opponent’s goal, but all missed by a narrow margin and ended the first half with a one-goal deficit.
During the halftime break, head coach Wei Dongqiang and assistant coach Jiang Minwen highly praised the players’ performance in the first half, encouraging everyone “Don’t be discouraged, there’s still a chance”. At the same time, they made a number of targeted arrangements: while adjusting the team’s defensive system, they instructed center forward Fang Fan to switch between long and short passes to adjust the game rhythm and create gaps for teammates when facing tight marking.
This adjustment paid off again. Cheered on by the home fans, the players of JHU Team launched an all-out offensive in the hot weather, reversing the passive situation in the first half and organizing attacks many times, but all were defused by the opponent’s outstanding goalkeeper. In the 70th minute of the game, JHU Team sent a diagonal long pass to the gap on the opponent’s right flank and broke through to cause a foul by WSU Team, winning a free kick opportunity near the sideline. Shao Song took the free kick and the ball drew a strange arc, bounced in the penalty area and flew into the net, making the score 1:1. After equalizing the score, JHU Team’s morale was high. Facing WSU Team’s counterattack, they continuously threatened the opponent’s goal, but failed to rewrite the score again. At the end of the regular time, the two teams drew 1:1 and entered the tense and exciting penalty shootout.
In the penalty shootout, the two teams took turns to take penalties in the first five rounds to decide the winner. If it was a draw, the “one-on-one” penalty shootout would start from the sixth round. In the first round, WSU Team scored first, but Han Tianyi, the first player of JHU Team to take the penalty, had his shot saved. Fortunately, the second player of WSU Team missed the penalty, giving the players of JHU Team a glimpse of the “dawn” of victory. In the last penalty, the two teams were tied 3:3. If JHU Team scored, they would win; otherwise, they would enter the more exciting “one-on-one” session. Facing great pressure, Yang Moran, the last penalty taker of JHU Team, adjusted his breathing and steadily scored the penalty, ending the game. At that moment, the coaches and players on the bench rushed into the field to celebrate wildly.
Chen Yuxuan, the goalkeeper of JHU Team who performed excellently in the last round, still played brilliantly in this round. He saved many “must-score goals” for the opponent in the regular time and two penalties in the penalty shootout, being elected as the best player of the game.
After the game, Wei Dongqiang said in an interview: “Wuhan Sports University is very strong, and the weather today also gave us a great challenge. But the players of JHU Team firmly implemented the tactics and showed the spirit of daring to fight. Their unity, cooperation and resilience allowed us to battle out this victory against the strong opponent.”
Shao Song and Fang Fan, who also performed well in this game, participated as graduate alumni. According to them, to win this game, the players voluntarily gave up the National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holidays and insisted on training every day, sometimes even twice a day. “After all, this is our first home game. We have to give it everything, otherwise how can we face the students cheering on the scene.”
At 15:00 on the afternoon of October 12, Jianghan University Team will face Wuhan University Team at home. All teachers and students are sincerely invited to watch the game on site and continue to cheer for our university's football athletes as they embark on their HCSL quest for glory.
By Yi Jun and Li Sha
