Chinese football in crisis: Guangzhou out of professional leagues

Guangzhou FC, China’s most effective side, will certainly play appropriately next season because they are unable to pay off enough of their significant debt.

The Chinese Football Association has forbid the eight-time champions of China Super League ( CSL ) play in domestic football when the new campaign kicks off.

It is a stunning fall from grace that ends a luxurious lifestyle that saw them win two AFC Champions League titles in 2013 and 2015 in three decades.

They won the Club World Cup in that powerful time, agreed an university partnership with True Madrid, and disclosed plans for a 100, 000-capacity venue.

Guangzhou’s swift development began when China Evergrande, a company that developed real estate, purchased the team in 2010 for the Foreign second-tier.

The fresh ownership team renamed the Guangzhou Evergrande side and made significant investments both on and off the ball, in line with Xi Jinping’s plan to make China a sports powerhouse that may host and win the World Cup.

In 2012, Marcello Lippi, the country’s champion manager, won three CSL names, a Taiwanese FA Cup, and the AFC Champions League. He was appointed as Italy’s manager.

Luiz Felipe Scolari, who led Brazil to World Cup splendor in 2002, was even more powerful, winning seven medals in two-and-a-half times.

Past Colombian forward Jackson Martinez, former midfielder for Tottenham and Barcelona, and former international striker Alberto Gilardino for big transfer fees and extremely high salaries were among the foreign stars signing.

However, Guangzhou were not the only ones who spent so much.

As the CSL sought to contend with powerhouses like the Premier League, La Liga, Serie A, and Bundesliga, an abundance of foreign players relocated to China.

Brazil scorer Hulk joined Shanghai SIPG, who were managed by previous England director Sven-Goran Eriksson, for £46m.

Former Manchester City and United winger Carlos Tevez moved to Shanghai Shenhua for a alleged$ 40 million while former Chelsea playmaker Oscar followed for$ 60 million.

All of the players were paid incredibly high salaries, and Chelsea director Antonio Conte stated in 2016 that the money spent on people by Chinese leagues was a “danger for all teams in the world.”

Arsene Wenger, the manager of Arsenal, stated that” China appears to have the financial resources to transfer a total European league to China.”

Gareth Bale, who was once the most costly player in the world, was linked with a walk to Jiangsu Suning for £1m per week in 2019.

But issues immediately began to change. The Chinese Football Association, afraid of the spiralling investing, introduced a’ extravagance taxes’ that made big-money transfers excessively cheap.

Additionally, a salary cap was established, and partners were prohibited from renaming their own clubs, giving Guangzhou Evergrande the name Guangzhou FC.

By that point, Evergrande was already in financial trouble, and in 2021, they made default payments as a result of a wider Chinai real estate problems that was made worse by the effects of the Covid-19 epidemic.

Guangzhou went into issue in 2022 after the company declared bankruptcy. Their idealistic stadium renovation plans were abandoned, and players were sold, leading to fall later that year.

Due to their continued financial difficulties, Guangzhou was given the opportunity to compete in the forthcoming campaign after just missing out on advertising in the 2024 season.

Nonetheless, the team continues to be optimistic about having some form of existence.

We regret that we were unable to achieve it, so we offer our sincere condolences to enthusiasts and the supporters of the club from all walks of life,” Guangzhou said in a statement.

” We will not transform our original intention, and we will do our best to handle the aftermath and contribute to the growth of Guangdong and Guangzhou football.”