When FA President Song Kai took office, he said he would scrutinize the league's access qualifications. However, the reality is that this year's access drama ended up in a delaying episode like in previous years. The FA first gave teams a 10-day grace period on the deadline for access applications, then said it would announce the access list in batches, and now has the results of the initial review.
According to Beijing Youth Daily reporter Sean, the CFA has completed the pre-qualification of clubs for admission to the 2024 season in the Chinese Super League (CSL), Chinese First League (CA) and Chinese Second League (CB), and a total of eight clubs failed to pass the pre-qualification (two in the CSL, four in the CA, and two in the CB).
Most surprisingly, the Chinese Super League clubs that failed to pass the initial screening included traditional giants Beijing Guoan.
On the same day that the results of the preliminary hearing were announced, Guoan's foreign aid player, De Souza, used his real-name social media account to leave a message under a blog post reporting on the rumors of Guoan's signing: "FirsttheyNeedtoPayme."
So what exactly is the problem with the Beijing Guoan team?
In December 2016, Sino Land spent 3.55 billion yuan to buy a 64% stake in Beijing Guoan FC; in June 2021, Sino Land received the remaining 36% of the club's shares. To date, Beijing Guoan has become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sino Land.
In September 2021, Evergrande Group thundered, and the real estate industry was immediately plunged into a cold winter. Sino Land could not escape the disaster. in June 2023, all the shares of Beijing Guoan FC held by the Group were frozen. Subsequently, the court made a judgment that the creditor had the right to pledge 100% of the shares of Beijing Guoan Football Club held by Sino Land, and had the right of priority to receive compensation for the discount, auction and sale price of the pledged shares.
In other words, today's Beijing Guoan FC is the victim of a minefield by parent group Zhonghe Land.
Another Chinese Super League club that failed to pass the initial screening was the Cangzhou Lions. The club was originally a wholly owned, real estate company of Yongchang Group.In 2021, the club moved from Shijiazhuang to Cangzhou at the invitation of Cangzhou. Cangzhou Construction Investment injected capital into the club for a 50% stake, but the club is still run by Yongchang Group.
However, with the restructuring of the Cangzhou leadership team, Cangzhou Construction Investment stopped investing in the Cangzhou Lions, which has left the club with serious wage arrears problems this season.
However, the Cangzhou Lions are actively addressing access issues these days. According to Soccer Daily, the team's coaching staff and Chinese players have agreed to defer wages, and 70 percent of the foreign aid arrears have been repaid, with the remainder of the foreign aid arrears amounting to approximately $1 million. Additionally, attorney Zhang Bing, who specializes in player wages, published an article stating that the Cangzhou players he represents have received the full amount of salary arrears from the club.
Beijing Guoan and Cangzhou Lions are the only two remaining clubs in the Chinese Super League controlled by real estate companies. Visible, leading the Chinese Super League into the era of golden dollar "real estate soccer" has come to an end. Among them, Cangzhou Lions is particularly special. Now, the Chinese super league is entering the "city investment soccer" new era. Cangzhou's shareholding structure connects the two eras. We also see the great risk of "city investment in soccer" in this club. If the lifeblood of "real estate soccer" is the cycle of real estate industry, "urban investment soccer" is enough to shake the club. Therefore, if Chinese soccer clubs cannot change the positioning of other people's subsidiaries and cannot operate independently, the annual league admission review will always be a wonderful drama.
According to reports, clubs that do not pass the initial review can still add and improve their access materials. The Cangzhou Lions have been struggling, and the historical position and geographic location of the Beijing Guoan team dictates that it is almost impossible for this club to pass the final access review.
