Although the Premier League is now in the inter-league break, the major clubs are still busy because if you want to play in next season's league, you need to qualify for admission through the Football Association first.
It is reported that this year, the Football Association has launched a new AFC access system, which is much more rigorous than any previous club submission. So every club's access qualification work can't be sloppy at all, a little careless submission may not meet the system requirements. If the AFC doesn't give the green light, they probably won't play in the Super League next season.
The Chinese Super League has been on a downward trend since the bubble of "gold dollar soccer" burst. Every season, everyone thinks the league has reached rock bottom, but in fact, the next season will be even worse.
Affected by the epidemic, the domestic real estate work is getting more and more depressed, and the Football Association has introduced a series of policies in the past two years. Now the life of the major clubs in the Chinese Super League is not very good. Previously, some soccer media sources revealed that only three of the 16 teams in the Chinese Super League do not owe wages this season.
Even former Chinese Super League giants such as Beijing Guoan are now struggling as they are heavily in debt. Is parent company Sino Group now unable to get the money to plug the debt hole, able to pay back the salaries of players and coaches for this season, or is it because of new sponsorships secured with the help of the city government?
Beijing Guoan, once rivaled by Guangzhou Evergrande, and other clubs are in even worse shape. Recently, Zhejiang, Wuhan Sanzhen, Cangzhou Lions, Dalian, and Shenzhen were exposed to possible dissolution next year. In addition, some clubs hosted by local sports bureaus are feared to be difficult to maintain once they lose support.
Under these circumstances, many clubs were unable to submit their access qualification declarations within the deadline set by the FA. As in the past, the FA has extended the deadline for clubs to submit their materials. However, without the support of the relevant departments, clubs like Shenzhen with debts of up to 3.5 billion yuan would not be able to submit access qualification materials even if they were given another month.
In addition to the many problems in the internal operation of the club, the Shenzhen team is also directly related to the current external environment. As we all know, the national soccer team has not entered the World Cup for many years, and now the level is getting worse and worse. The Chinese women's soccer team also has a tendency to follow in the footsteps.
Against this background, Chinese soccer has fallen into a new low, many fans and media enthusiasm for soccer has been declining, and the attention of the domestic league is significantly lower than in the era of "Golden Dollar Soccer". Coupled with the neutral policy of the Football Association, many enterprises are less and less willing to invest in soccer. Without the blood transfusion from the enterprises, they can't survive completely independently, which makes many Chinese Super League clubs face the crisis of dissolution!
As a result, some people in the domestic soccer industry have also said recently that the Chinese Super League has not yet hit its lowest point, and life may become even more difficult for clubs next year. Only when the clubs' old players retire and new players become the mainstay can the teams' operating costs be truly reduced.
That said, it will be 3-4 years before clubs begin to rationalize their pay structures before they begin to break even financially. Until then, some clubs may have announced their dissolution because they can't support it.
As a result, more Super League clubs are sure to disband in the next two years. Once there are no new CFL clubs to make up for this, the league will likely continue to downsize. In extreme cases, it is even possible to change the 12 teams in the first year of the A-League...
