32-year-old Hou Zhe is ready to retire.
This decision he made a year ago has been postponed until now because of his unwillingness, but it is still ushered in the moment when the dust settles.
Hou Zhe has helped the team he played for 5 times successfully in the league. He originally wanted to achieve the 6th time in his career with Hebei Zhuo Team, so as to draw a successful end to his career.
To this end, he even returned to the team the day after the child was born.
However, Hebei Zhuo not only failed to upgrade, but also stopped participating in the league of the new season.
The more than 300,000 salary owed to Hou Zhe by the team is also pending as the team disappears from the territory of the Chinese professional league.
Hou Zhe (left) in the game.
Image credit: Osports All Sports Photo Agency
For a long time, only going out and not going in, so Hou Zhe's savings were completely emptied, and he even needed to borrow money to support his living.
Hou Zhe wanted to quickly get his back wages back and return the money to others.
In the Chinese Second League last season, because the team did not pay for the hotel, Hou Zhe and his teammates were not able to eat and go back to their room. This was something he had never encountered in his career.
Still, Hou Zhe has never regretted his career in professional football.
But after retiring, he wanted to leave football temporarily.
"Come on with your dreams, let's talk about surviving."
Hou Zhe (left) in the game.
Image credit: Osports All Sports Photo Agency.
retired
My name is Hou Zhe, a football player in the 1989 age group.
Normally, it’s the pre-season preparation stage, but I’m at home in Shenyang, where I’ve already started my post-retirement transition, and I’m busy asking the team for salaries.
The club only gave me three months' salary, and owed me 150,000 yuan in performance pay and nearly 200,000 yuan in basic salary, but I couldn't contact the team at all, and the team would no longer participate in the Chinese League Two in the new season.
I had already decided to retire last year, but the Hebei Zhuo team wanted me to join, and I was still unwilling. I wanted to finish the 6th time in my career and draw a successful conclusion.
Hou Zhe (second from the right in the second row) is in the game.
Photo courtesy of the interviewee
I remember last year during the third stage of the Second Division, just in time for the birth of my child.
The next day, I rushed back to the competition area. At that time, I wanted to help the team play the last stage and achieve the first stage.
It was my feelings that supported it, but in retrospect I feel a little worthless, and I owe a lot to my family.
I had some savings before, but I couldn’t get in and out for a long time. In addition to the big expenses such as childbirth and loan repayment, I was completely emptied.
Now I need to borrow money to live on and have borrowed more than 100,000.
So I hope I can get my back wages back as soon as possible so that I can give the money back to others, but I have no hope of getting the money back.
Now I have decided to retire.
To be honest, my heart is cold and I want to leave football for a while.
Hou Zhe helped the team succeed in rushing to the top five times in his career.
Photo courtesy of the interviewee.
No regrets
From my point of view, I have never regretted going the career path as a professional player.
When my child grows up, I will definitely send him to play football, because football is really a very good sport. It can cultivate children's team spirit and has a nurturing effect.
But it's not necessarily a career path, it depends on his talent and his own choice.
I have loved football and the fighting spirit of the sport since I was a child.
A team is on the field working for a goal, and the fans are shouting for you.
That feeling will make you especially happy and enjoyable.
This feeling will never happen again in this life.
Photo courtesy of the interviewee.
When I was in grade 3, my physical education teacher found out that I have athletic talents. It happened that the school had a football team. I could hit 5 balls at once.
Later, I got periostitis, and my mother once stopped me from playing football, but I still wanted to play after six months of hiatus.
My mother said, then go to the big city to play.
In 2002, I went to Shenyang Football School. The monthly tuition fee was 800 yuan, including room and board.
At that time, I also wanted to find some football schools for big teams, but the cost was relatively high and my family could not support it.
Just before that, Chinese football rushed into the World Cup at the Wulihe Stadium in Shenyang. I wanted to go for a walk and found this football school.
In fact, the few batches of players behind us are much better. It should have been around 2004, and elite training will no longer be charged.
In 2007, Shenyang Wulihe Stadium was demolished by blasting.
Image credit: Osports All Sports Photo Agency
The team I was in was later sold to Shanghai International as a whole and started free training.
There are many players in my age group. There are about 100 players in the echelon. After a series of eliminations, there are only 20 players left in the reserve team.
I was a good player at that time, and I have always been the main force.
In general, my youth training stage was relatively smooth, but for a while I broke the tendons of my feet and almost couldn't continue to play football.
At that time, the venue hardware facilities were too poor, and there was a high probability of injury.
Hou Zhe is in the game.
Photo courtesy of the interviewee
In 2006, the Shanghai International team moved to Xi'an.
I didn't have much chance to stay in the reserve team, but when Dalian Albin formed a team in 2010, they bought me.
At that time, I didn't earn much, 2,500 yuan a month.
After the team's success in the league that year, the salary rose to 5,000 yuan.
In 2011, I was loaned to Fujian Junhao (now Cangzhou Lions) in the second team. The treatment was the same, but I had more opportunities to play games.
In fact, at that time, I could have stayed in Dalian Albin to play in the first division, but I still wanted to pursue the challenge and didn't want to sit on the bench.
Later, Fujian Junhao also rushed to the Chinese League One, and I moved to Hubei Huakaier (now Xinjiang Tianshan Snow Leopard).
This team also successfully rushed to the top of the league in one year, and the next year I scored in the first game of the Chinese League.
Then something happened at home, my father got sick and passed away, and I went home for a while.
After returning to the team, the state was affected a bit.
Hou Zhe (left) in the game.
Photo courtesy of the interviewee.
unpaid wages
2013 is the stage of Jinyuan football going up.
In the second half of that year, I went to Shenzhen Fengteng, the second-tier team. At that time, it was more than 20,000 yuan a month before tax.
Later, I went to two China B teams, and the salary has been rising, gradually rising to 40,000 before tax a month.
2016 was the "peak of gold and yuan", I was in Meixian Tiehan with 60,000 yuan a month before tax, which is a relatively considerable contract, after all, it is a China B team.
A year later, I moved to Baoding Rongda, a China Second Division team.
The team owner is more football-savvy and tried his best to settle most of the arrears.
In 2019, I transferred to Hebei Elite, and the salary was paid on time every month.
It's just that I still owe a part of the performance salary, and I haven't paid it yet.
In 2020, I returned to Beijing Renhe (formerly Shanghai International) in the Chinese League One, and after a year of playing, the team was disbanded.
After that, there is Hebei Zhuoao.
Hou Zhe was in Baoding Rongda period.
Photo courtesy of the interviewee
Now that the tide of gold and dollars has receded, coupled with the impact of the epidemic and other factors, the club has reduced investment and the wages of players have dropped. This is no problem.
The key is to have the spirit of contract. If a team offers players 5,000 yuan a month, it is normal for someone to play. After all, this is determined by the market.
But you can't pay arrears, it has now become a matter of integrity.
I remember last year in the China Second Division, some teams only offered 1 or 2 months of salary, and some players did not get a month's salary.
Those young players in their early 20s only have a salary of more than 2,000 yuan a month, and they owe it all.
The players have discussed the salary cut with the club before, and they have reached a point that is acceptable to both parties, but they still do not give money.
We even missed one or two meals and couldn't go back to our room because the club owed hotel fees.
In the preparation stage before the third stage of China Second Division last year, our team was expelled from the base because of the lack of venue fees.
In the China Second Division, a team owed money, so the players couldn't eat three full meals for three consecutive days.
Sometimes we all help them get some food and bring it back to the room.
At that time, the closed tournament system had a very intensive schedule, about 3 or 4 days for a game.
Hou Zhe is in the game.
Photo courtesy of the interviewee
stay away from football for now
After retiring, I don't want to be a youth coach.
Most of the youth training coaches here are 3,000 yuan a month, and more can be 5,000 yuan.
To be honest, there is a threshold for being a coach, but the salary is not proportional. If you don’t do some side jobs, how can you support your family?
But if you do a side job, the coach's main job will inevitably be affected.
If you don't study and devote yourself to it, what kind of teenagers will you train as a coach?
Now some clubs have higher salaries for their youth coaches, but the junior players at the lower level have not yet laid a solid foundation. When they arrive at the club, it will take 1 to 2 years to correct the things they learned before.
When these players go up one echelon, the coach will ask: What have you been practicing since you were a child?
Why can't you get some things at this age?
Because player development is slow, if he is taking a crooked path from the root, then his path will be crooked.
To the adult team and the national team can be imagined.
Photo courtesy of the interviewee.
There is also a prominent question: what kind of coach do you want to be?
Is it to slowly transfer football knowledge to the players and let them take every step solidly?
Or in order to keep the coach's job, in a very utilitarian and stereotyped way to let the players perform?
For example, if I am a utilitarian coach, then I will meet the needs of the league and change the best forwards to full-backs.
Let a midfielder who plays particularly well, less organize the ball, and focus on catching the ball.
Developing a young player requires patience and giving him the chance to make mistakes.
On the basis of football thinking and ability, and after a certain degree of trial and error, he can grow into a player who plays football more reasonably and with ease, and cannot be killed very utilitarianly.
Players like us have been in contact with football for more than 20 years.
If I learn something more, I will make a good transition to become a youth coach.
I also want to pass on the detours and lessons I have taken in the past to the next generation, and cultivate better players than myself.
But in reality, I think it's better to put this dream away and talk about it if you can survive.
Hope one day, I can come back.
(Author Bian Liqun)
(Note: Regarding the arrears of wages, the reporter has contacted the relevant clubs many times. As of press time, the club where the player belongs has not responded.)