FOR Artyom Apukhtin, football has taken on many meanings over the years.

As a boy, it meant the candy his father brought home to Russia from China’s eastern coastal city of Dalian. As an adult, it was the roar of the Northeast Super League that drew him across the border to a city he had previously known only through stories. Now, he hopes football can become a bridge between Vladivostok and Dalian.

“I saw your posts about the Northeast Super League. I’m coming to Dalian in a few days. I want to look for cooperation with the local football association. Could you help me get in touch?”

That message arrived in the inbox of “Romantic Dalian,” a social media account run by the Dalian Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism. The sender was Apukhtin, chairman of the Vladivostok Amateur Football League and a football coach.

From home, he had watched videos of Dalian’s matches in the Northeast Super League. The pitch was green, with the sea on three sides. The stands were packed and the cheers rolled through the stadium.

China’s first cross-provincial urban football league, the Northeast Super League brings together eight city teams and 390 amateur players from Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang provinces and Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. Since kicking off in May, it has attracted growing attention.

In the days leading up to the match, the local culture and tourism bureau coordinated with the sports bureau to help arrange Apukhtin’s visit and meetings with local football officials.

For Apukhtin, however, the trip was about more than football cooperation. It also brought him closer to a family story that began three decades ago.

In a photograph from 30 years ago, a Russian footballer has his arm around a Chinese teammate’s shoulder as they smile at the camera.

“He always talked about Dalian, about the green pitch that summer, about the wind by the sea, and about the people of this city,” Apukhtin said of his father.

Around 1995, his father, Alexander Apukhtin, played football in Vladivostok before joining a club in Dalian. “That year, I was only five or six,” he recalled.

At that age, Apukhtin barely understood football. What he did know was that whenever his father returned from Dalian, there was candy in his bag. The memory of that sweetness stayed with him long afterward.

A knee injury forced Alexander to leave Dalian after only half a year and return home. He later played for several clubs and remained involved in football until his death two years ago.

Inspired by his father, Apukhtin began formal football training at the age of 8. He progressed from player to coach and event organizer, and now leads the Vladivostok Amateur Football League. He also organizes football, table tennis and volleyball events for people with hearing impairments and promotes sporting exchanges for people with disabilities.

Another aim of his trip was to find his father’s old friends in Dalian and continue the cross-border friendship begun by the previous generation.

During a visit to the Dalian Football Youth Training Base, Apukhtin was impressed by its natural turf, rehabilitation and physiotherapy rooms, fitness areas and locker rooms. As he watched young players train, he got a closer look at the foundations of Dalian’s reputation as a football city.

“Very professional, very standardized, full of hope,” Apukhtin said. “This city is warm, comfortable and beautiful. Football is a bridge. I hope more Russians will get to know Dalian and fall in love with it.” (Xinhua)