Beijing, April 4 -- On Thursday just after Qingming, seven professional football clubs officially dissipated into the history of China's professional football league with an announcement from the Football Association.
On the 6th, the Chinese Football Association issued an announcement that it decided to cancel the registration qualifications of Wuhan Yangtze River Football Club, Guangzhou City Football Club, Hebei Football Club, Shaanxi Chang'an Athletic Football Club, Beijing Beitai University Football Club, Zibo Qiju Football Club, and Xinjiang Tianshan Snow Leopards Football Club.
Screenshot of the website of the Chinese Football Association
On February 2, the Chinese Football Association announced Football Word (15) No. 2023 "Notice of the Chinese Football Association on Carrying out the Access Work of Clubs of the Chinese Super League, China League A and China Second League in the 96 Season", requiring all clubs to fully settle all salary arrears and arrears in the football industry in the 2023 season and before the 2022 season during this access review period (some international arbitration cases should be resolved in accordance with the relevant regulations of AFC and FIFA).
"In accordance with the above policy requirements, the Chinese Football Association publishes the list of clubs that have completed debt settlement in two batches and accepts social supervision. According to the public results and the subsequent investigation, it was confirmed that Wuhan Yangtze River Football Club, Guangzhou City Football Club, Hebei Football Club, Shaanxi Chang'an Athletic Football Club, Beijing Beitai University Football Club, Zibo Qiju Football Club, and Xinjiang Tianshan Snow Leopards Football Club had wage arrears and failed to solve them. ”
Data map: Guangzhou derby during the Jin Yuan period. Guangzhou City (White) has now reluctantly withdrawn, and eight-time champion Guangzhou (Red) has been reduced to the Central League. Photo by China News Agency reporter Chen Jimin
Previously, the Chinese Football Association and the preparatory group of the Chinese Football Federation held a media communication meeting on March 3 and announced the access list of the Chinese football professional league for the new season, and 29 professional clubs were qualified for the new season.
At that time, it was announced that a total of 2023 professional teams would not be eligible for admission in 8, namely Guangzhou City, Kunshan Team, Hebei Team, Wuhan Yangtze River, Shaanxi Chang'an Athletic, Zibo Qiju, Beitai University, and Xinjiang Tianshan Snow Leopard. Seven of these clubs appeared on the list of disqualified.
Among them, the Hebei team did not submit application materials, Wuhan Yangtze River and Xinjiang Tianshan Snow Leopard announced their withdrawal, Guangzhou City, Shaanxi Chang'an Athletic, Zibo Qiju, Beijing Beitai University finally failed to pass the access.
Unlike the above-mentioned clubs with salary arrears, the Kunshan team that is not included in this list does not have a problem of wage arrears, but voluntarily abandons the qualification for access.
The scene of the media briefing on March 3. Photo by China News Network reporter Bian Liqun
Among the 7 clubs that were disqualified because they could not solve the problem of arrears of wages, many teams were unable to solve the historical debts left by the "Golden Yuan Period", and they had no choice but to go out.
For example, Hebei Football Club. As one of the representative teams of the "Golden Yuan Era" of Chinese football, the withdrawal of the Hebei team is also expected. Last season, they were plagued by wage arrears, and with a group of youth troops in the Chinese Super League, they won 2 wins and 32 losses, plus they were penalized for unresolved historical debts, and accumulated 3 points throughout the season, which became an unprecedented "spectacle" in the Chinese Super League.
Another example is Guangzhou City Football Club. Guangzhou City also fell before the start of the new season because of historical debts. It is understood that the state-owned consortium composed of GAC and other groups took over the Guangzhou City team last year and undertook the daily operation of the team, but did not bear the debts left by R&F in the "Golden Yuan period", which became a major obstacle in the share reform process of the Guangzhou City team, which directly affected the access work of this season.
Not only Guangzhou City, but also Chinanews.com reporters found in previous interviews that many clubs in the process of share reform have encountered similar problems.
In the 2020 season, Jiangsu lifted the first Chinese Super League championship trophy in the team's history, but then announced its withdrawal. Official photo courtesy of Chinese Super League/IC photo
As the saying goes, "If you owe money to a debt, you should be righteous", even if it is an old historical debt.
In the final analysis, in the ebb and flow of Golden Yuan football, the survival of the fittest is a normal phenomenon, and it is inevitable that domestic professional football clubs will experience a painful period.
It is understood that the new season of the Chinese Super League is likely to start on April 4, and with the end of the access work, the new season schedule is also close to being released.
It is hoped that after experiencing the annual "spring cold" of Chinese football in recent years, Chinese professional football clubs can all face the sun and rise in the following days. (End)