The 2025 China Drone Soccer League (Guiyang stop) is held in Guiyang, Southwest China’s Guizhou Province from August 27 to 30, 2025. Photo: VCG
The 2025 China Drone Soccer League (Guiyang stop) concluded on Saturday with its finals and closing ceremony in Guiyang Southwest China’s Guizhou Province, marking the country’s first officially certified league. Designed to international standards with tiered professional venues, the event drew wide attention from industry insiders and tech-sports enthusiasts, showcasing the rigor and appeal of this emerging sport.
The tournament, held from August 27 to 30, featured three competition arenas of different sizes, creating a distinctive spectacle at the venue. According to organizers, the event strictly followed international standards with F9A-A, F9A-B and F9A-C categories, commonly known as the “400-ball,” “200-ball” and “100-ball” groups. These numbers refer to the diameter of the drone soccer balls in millimeters, with the field dimensions adjusted accordingly. The smallest “100-ball” arena, with its faster speed and greater agility, was designed for young beginners, offering a compact space that helps them focus and quickly master basic control skills.
Inside the specially designed cages, teams maneuvered drones encased in spherical frames to score by shooting them into their opponents’ goals. Demonstrations by several professional squads showcased the sport’s unique blend of flight control technology and teamwork coordination, drawing enthusiastic responses from the crowd.
The Global Times observed that most participants were primary and middle school students, with relatively few adults. Interviews revealed that many of these young players have joined clubs and undergo regular training in their spare time.
A coach from Yun Yi Model, a drone soccer club based in East China’s Anhui Province, told the Global Times that the league has attracted strong participation from young players. “Most of the competitors are teenagers, as they have more time and enthusiasm to train, while adults are less involved,” he said. “Our team has already reached the quarterfinals in Guiyang, after winning two runner-up titles in earlier stops in Langfang and Shanghai. This time, we hope to break through and achieve even better results.”
He explained that the club encourages students to assemble and customize their own drones, from screws and frames to the protective spherical shells. “It’s a trendy sport that blends technology and athletics,” the coach noted. “More importantly, it fits perfectly with China’s vision for developing the low-altitude economy. The future of this sector depends on today’s youth growing up with the skills and passion to drive it forward.”
Chen Yangjie, deputy chief referee of the 2025 China Drone Soccer League, told the Global Times that the sport has developed at a remarkable pace in China, with young players showing increasingly sophisticated technical and tactical skills. “The level has risen quickly in just a few years, which also places higher demands on referees,” he said. “Drone soccer has a low entry threshold and is relatively safe, making it very suitable for children and community-based sports. It also aligns with the national goal of promoting grassroots sports participation, from schools to neighborhoods.”
Highlighting the uniqueness of the game, Chen said drone soccer differs from traditional football in that “it takes the competition from the ground to the air.” He explained that while football is about two teams fighting over a single ball, “in drone soccer, each team controls its own ball, which makes offensive and defensive transitions much faster and the confrontation more intense.” He added that China has built a relatively complete system for the sport under the support of the country’s aviation authorities, and will compete on the world stage at the inaugural Drone Soccer World Championship in Shanghai this November.
Kong Xubing, deputy general manager of Guiyang Low-Altitude Economy Development Co, told the Global Times that drone soccer is an excellent educational vehicle that integrates science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics (STEAM). “Its debut has quickly sparked young people’s interest in technology, driving the growth of drone programming, robotics competitions, training clubs and education programs,” he said. “For Guiyang, this means nurturing future engineers and scientists to support the city’s long-term development.”
Kong added that the company is working to establish a local aviation sports association and foster drone soccer clubs. It also plans to host national-level training programs for drone soccer coaches under the General Administration of Sport of China, and to apply for drone soccer to be recognized as a local competitive sport. “These efforts will further enrich Guiyang’s ‘low-altitude plus sports’ industry ecosystem,” he noted.
Since being included as an official discipline of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) in 2019, drone soccer has developed rapidly in China. In 2025, it was selected for the first time as a mass competition event at the National Games, marking its rise as a model of integrated development between technology and sports. As China’s “Data Valley” and the permanent host of the Big Data Expo, Guiyang is leveraging the expo platform to create a virtuous synergy between high-level events and digital empowerment.
Although China is not the birthplace of drone soccer, the sport has grown rapidly in the country and enjoys strong public enthusiasm, insiders said. The first FAI World Drone Soccer Championships will be held at the Shanghai Stadium from November 15 to 18, where audiences will witness top players from around the world compete.
Source: https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202508/1342136.shtml
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