Even though the Chinese Super League (CSL) is currently in the off-season, teams are still in the midst of intense preparations. The transfer market is no less competitive than during the tournament, especially for the focal players. Despite the overall drop in player prices, national team players are still very popular. In addition to the above, individual clubs will continue to "pay" for matches. Zhejiang is one of them. Although they have been eliminated from the Asian Champions League, but the Asian Champions League is not over. Especially in last December's visit to Melbourne match, Wang Dongsheng elbow hit the opponent, and received a red card. Judging from past experience, the AFC will start to back it up.
However, it wasn't until early January 2024 that the world waited for news of the retrospective penalty. For a while, they thought the matter would go away, but that's clearly not the AFC's style. It was on January 17 that the long awaited penalty was finally issued. After analyzing and judging, 26-year-old starter Wang Dongsheng's elbow strike on the opponent was found to be a violent action, and the AFC has suspended him for three matches, including an automatic red card suspension, and fined him $10,000, about 70,000 yuan. It can be seen that the AFC's punishment for violent behavior is severe and resolute, which also serves as a warning to other clubs.
Of course, in addition to the players, the Zhejiang club was also punished, which is also to "pay for" last year's foul. 2023 November, due to the failure to enter the venue on time, the Zhejiang team was found guilty of foul play, accepted a fine of about 7,000 yuan of 1,000 U.S. dollars, which is also required to be paid within 30 days, which is also a warning. The two fines were close to $80,000, which, it should be noted, is not a huge amount, but it had an impact on the team's honor, and it was also in the Asian context. Zhejiang needs to learn from this as it is the first fine issued by a Chinese Super League team in 2024.
The professional game is still about attention to detail, and it is entirely possible to avoid not playing at the required time. In addition, we should also pay attention to player management. Wang Dongsheng's red card departure had an impact on the team's tactics. More importantly, Zhejiang is the third place in the league. Although it will continue to participate in the Asian Champions League is not an elite tournament in 2024, the Asian tournament also represents the image of the Chinese Super League, so the impact of personnel loss is self-evident.
There is no doubt that Zhejiang's main focus will remain on the league, after all they finished third in the league for the second time in a row. The team hopes to improve in the new season, so competing for the title is bound to be their goal in the future.
