On September 20th, the 38th Beijing Evening News Hundred Team Cup Football Tournament welcomed another match day. The rain is still dense, and staff wearing high boots shuttle through various stadiums, rigorously reviewing details related to matches and epidemic prevention. "From less than 6 o'clock in the morning until 6 o'clock in the evening, each of us is so busy," said Wang Xiaogang, Deputy Secretary General of the Beijing Football Association.

Epidemic prevention is of utmost importance

The Hundred Teams Cup, which was supposed to take place during the summer, had to be postponed due to the pandemic. But even though the epidemic has been brought under control and the competition has officially begun, epidemic prevention remains the top priority of this 100 team cup.

"925 teams competed fiercely in a total of 1290 matches, which means a huge number of participants. As a football game across the city, epidemic prevention work must be the top priority," said Wang Xiaogang. For this reason, the Beijing Football Association has strictly set the threshold for participation, which is to have a nucleic acid test certificate after September 9th, a green code for travel big data within 15 days, and data from Beijing Health Treasure on the same day.

"To be honest, at the beginning, some parents didn't understand and thought that the epidemic had been brought under control, and having a travel green code and health code data was enough. However, we felt that we still need to be responsible for each participating player and have a nucleic acid test certificate." Wang Xiaogang said, "Moreover, we considered that some participating teams may have difficulties in making appointments for testing, so we specially set up three testing locations so that those players who cannot make appointments for nucleic acid testing can complete all procedures smoothly before the start of the game."

The details before the competition were implemented one by one, and as the competition began, the epidemic prevention work remained unwavering. On every match day, staff will arrive early at the stadium to install and set up relevant equipment, and strictly follow epidemic prevention standards at the entrance to ensure the smooth progress of the game.

Wearing rain boots and constantly busy

On the second day of the Mid Autumn Festival holiday, it was another heavy rainy day. It rained intermittently all night before getting heavier again in the morning, and Guo Yan, a staff member of the Beijing Football Association responsible for media work, cleverly put on her rain boots and arrived at the Dongfeng International Sports Park competition area before 5:50 am. "On the 19th, it rained heavily and we were not well prepared. Many people stood in completely wet shoes for 10 hours, and some people's feet were swollen." Guo Yan said, "If it rains again today, everyone will have experience and quickly put on their rain boots."

Extreme weather has always been a tricky issue for organizers of the Hundred Teams Cup. My various hardships are not worth mentioning, what's more important is whether the competition can proceed normally? Will the child get injured due to the slippery venue? Will the referee's continuous enforcement in heavy rain affect the performance? All of them need to be considered in advance. In this regard, Wang Xiaogang said: "We will all pay attention to the weather forecast in advance, and then contact the leaders of each team through WeChat official account and point-to-point WeChat group the day before the game, and communicate with them about the plans for extreme weather. Of course, the plans are always changing. When the game day comes, the referee will adjust the progress of the game according to the weather conditions at any time to ensure the safety of the children's game to the greatest extent."

The workload has increased exponentially

From a summer focused competition to a weekly competition today, it also means that the workload for organizers of the Hundred Teams Cup has doubled. Without holidays, busy competition days, and standing to eat have become commonplace.

"During the summer vacation, during concentrated competitions, it meant that most of the equipment didn't need to be placed every day. However, now it has become a weekend competition, and we have to repeatedly dismantle the equipment and reinstall it. After all, each venue is commercial, and we must immediately restore the venue after the competition is over, and then wait until before the competition starts before reinstalling it," said Wang Xiaogang. In this way, the workload of the organization naturally doubles. Arriving at the competition venue before 6:00 pm every competition day takes 12 hours to get busy.

"Everyone is really busy. Due to the requirements of epidemic prevention, the competition area and the periphery are separated, so the staff basically stand for a day. When they get busy, they don't even bother to eat. And even if they have time to eat, they basically stand and eat in a hurry." Wang Xiaogang said, "In addition, the current games are on weekends and holidays, which requires all staff to work overtime every week. However, everyone is busy and happy because they truly love football and hope that children can get real happiness through the Hundred Teams Cup."