Two European missionaries introduced football to a mountain valley in Wuhua county in 1873, cutting goalposts from timber for the schoolboys they taught; more than a century later, the spot they chose is officially recognised as where modern football began in mainland China.
一八七三年，两位欧洲传教士将足球带入五华县的山谷，用木料在他们任教的学校搭起球门；一个多世纪后，这处地点被正式认定为中国内地现代足球的发源地。
The French missionary Bi An and his German colleague Bian Dezhi began educational work at Yuankeng village, in what is now Meizhou’s Wuhua county, in 1865, and completed a school building there, called Zhongshuguan, in 1873, marking out a football pitch on its parade ground. The school later produced eight players, including Wei Jinxin and Jiang Aiqi, who are described in local football histories as among mainland China’s first generation of modern footballers.
法国传教士毕安与其德国同事边得志，于一八六五年开始在如今梅州五华县境内的元坑村从事教育工作，并于一八七三年建成校舍，取名”中书院”，在校内操场上划出足球场。这所学校后来培养出八名球员，包括魏锦新与江爱其，地方足球史料将他们列为中国内地最早一代现代足球运动员。
According to The Paper, a Shanghai-based news outlet, sports historian Chen Weisheng traced foreign archives against the 1948 edition of the Wuhua county gazetteer before China’s General Administration of Sport formally recognised Wuhua’s Yuankeng as the birthplace of modern football in mainland China, in November 2015.
据澎湃新闻报道，体育史研究者陈伟胜将外文史料与一九四八年版《五华县志》相互印证后得出这一结论；二零一五年十一月，国家体育总局据此正式认定五华元坑为中国内地现代足球发源地。
From Pomelos to FIFA
从柚子到国际足联
One footballer with roots in Meizhou went on to reach the upper ranks of the sport’s world governing body. Li Huitang, whose family came from Wuhua’s Hengbei town, played for around 25 years and was later elected a vice-president of FIFA, the highest position any Asian had then held within the organisation.
梅州走出的球员中，有人一度登上世界足球管理机构的高层。祖籍五华横陂镇的李惠堂，球员生涯约二十五年，此后当选国际足联副会长，是当时亚洲人在该机构担任过的最高职务。
Li’s ancestral home, Lianqing Lou, still stands in Hengbei; his father, a stonemason who made his fortune building railways and buildings in Hong Kong, built the four-cornered compound in 1892. Local tradition holds that the young Li, unable to replace his football whenever it burst, practised instead with pomelos, repeatedly aiming at a small opening in an outer wall from around 30 metres away.
李惠堂的祖宅联庆楼至今仍立于横陂镇，由其父——一位后来在香港承建铁路与楼宇发家的石匠——于一八九二年建成，为四角楼格局。当地传说称，少年李惠堂因足球踢破无法更换，便以柚子代替，从三十米外反复瞄准外墙上的一处小洞练习。
From a County Championship to the Super League
从县级冠军到顶级联赛
Meizhou’s football reputation was not built on one player alone. In 1955, a county team from Meixian, drawn entirely from the Qiangmin Sports Club, travelled to Wuhan and beat six major city sides to win the national football championship, the only county-level side in the competition; the former State Sports Commission responded in 1956 by naming Meixian the country’s Hometown of Football.
梅州的足球声名并非仅靠一人成就。一九五五年，一支完全由强民体育会成员组成的梅县代表队远赴武汉，接连击败六座大中城市球队，夺得全国足球锦标赛冠军，是该项赛事中唯一的县级球队；国家体委随后于一九五六年授予梅县”足球之乡”称号。
More than 300 footballers left Meizhou for higher-level teams between the 1950s and the 1990s, according to official Guangdong sports material. Xingning county, within Meizhou, became known for producing national team players during the 1980s, a run still remembered locally as yi xian liu guojiao, one county, six internationals.
据广东官方体育资料显示，从上世纪五十年代到九十年代，梅州先后向更高级别球队输送三百多名球员。上世纪八十年代，梅州境内的兴宁县以培养国脚闻名，当地至今仍以”一县六国脚”传颂此事。
One of them, Xie Yuxin, became the first mainland Chinese footballer to play professionally abroad, turning out for Dutch club Zwaluwen for 20 appearances and 10 goals.
其中的谢育新，后来成为首位赴海外效力的中国内地球员，曾代表荷兰俱乐部兹瓦鲁出场二十次，攻入十球。
Wuhua reopened the Yuankeng site as a heritage park in January 2021, reconstructing Zhongshuguan, the original football ground, the east and west gates and the running track, and adding statues of Bi An and Bian Dezhi; the site has since been rated a national 3A scenic attraction.
五华县已于二零二一年一月将元坑旧址重新开放为遗址公园，重建了中书院校舍、原足球场、东西校门与环形跑道，并新增毕安与边得志的塑像；该遗址此后被评为国家3A级旅游景区。
The county’s footballing identity persists in Meizhou Hakka Football Club, founded in Wuhua in 2013, which became the first county-level side to reach the Chinese Super League. Meizhou Hakka’s rise has since reversed: the club finished 15th in the 2025 Super League season and was relegated to China League One. But in July 2026, one of its own academy products, Wuhua-born 18-year-old Wei Xiangxin, left for French club Auxerre on a five-year contract.
这座县城的足球底色，延续到了如今的梅州客家足球俱乐部；该俱乐部二零一三年创立于五华，后来成为首支登上中超联赛的县级球队。梅州客家的升势此后逆转：俱乐部在二零二五赛季中超联赛中排名第十五，降入中甲联赛。但二零二六年七月，该俱乐部自家青训培养出的球员、出生于五华、年仅十八岁的魏祥鑫，转会加盟法国俱乐部欧塞尔，签约五年。
