In light of the outbreaks of new cases of coronavirus, the start of the new season of the Chinese Professional Football League, which was scheduled for Saturday, has been postponed. The decision added to concerns about the implications of the epidemic for local football and its impact on teams and sponsors.
The virus put Chinese football in a real dilemma and a major crisis, as the decision to postpone came amid a state of confusion over the fate of the football season.
The decision to postpone the costs to the teams participating in the tournament and even the sponsors, will incur huge financial losses.
If this season's championship is to be held, it will not start until next April at the very least, according to health experts in China who rule out the stability of the situation with regard to the Corona virus before this date.
So far, the only cases of HIV infection in China have crossed the 75,000 mark. The virus has also killed more than 2,200 people.
The number of injuries and deaths is increasing daily, and experts believe that the number of unregistered infections may be much more.
And if the league kicks off in next April, the season’s events will suffer from enormous pressure in the matches, as each team will play two matches per week.
In economic terms, the Corona virus has dealt a heavy blow to Chinese football, which has now been totally frozen under strict anti-virus measures.
"The whole industry is in crisis ... it is a very cold winter because Chinese football has always been a barometer of the Chinese economy," players agent Wang Xiao told German news agency, noting that sponsors will not invest well in football as long as the situation is this bad.
Most soccer sponsors in China come from commercial sectors such as tobacco, real estate, wines and e-commerce.
The only exceptions seem to be related to the wealthy clubs, such as the "Schengen Club" supported by the Chinese company "Quizhou Motai Wines", or the "Guangzhou Evergrande" club, which has been offering shares in the financial markets since 2015 and supported by "Taobao" Trade Online.
But the impact of the Corona Virus is not limited to the postponement of the Chinese League indefinitely, but also overshadows the participation of Chinese clubs in the AFC Champions League, where only "Beijing Guan" team was allowed to face "Shangri United" in northern Thailand last Tuesday, and the team won With one goal, note that the Chinese team trained in South Korea for about a month before the match.
The AFC had initially planned to have the four Chinese teams (Guan, Evergrand, Shanghai Sepage and Shanghai Xinhua) play away matches in hopes of ending the Corona virus crisis later.
However, the severe restrictions imposed on travel in many countries due to Corona spoiled these plans, resulting in the postponement of the matches of these teams and the realignment of their dates later.
The first decisions to get rid of this crisis were to transfer the upcoming matches of the Chinese team in the Asian qualifiers to the World Cup outside China, where the team's match against its guest, the Maldives, was transferred to Puri Ram in Thailand to be held on 26 March.
It was also agreed to hold the national team match against its national team, Guam, in the same place in Thailand next March 31.
The Chinese team, led by its coach Li Tai, may organize a closed training camp in Dubai early next month.
By doing so, the team can avoid problems entering the country such as quarantine in China, after training for a period outside the country.
The Chinese team needs to win its two matches against the Maldives and Guam in order to maintain its hope of qualifying for the next round in the playoffs.