Recently, Xu Jiayin, chairman of Evergrande Group, the parent company of the Guangzhou team, was subjected to "coercive measures" to make the Guangzhou team, which has fallen into the Central League, once again attracted the attention of fans and heated discussions.
After all, Guangzhou Evergrande (the Guangzhou team) used to be the most successful club in the Chinese Super League. They won 8 CSL titles and 2 AFC Champions League titles. Such achievements are unprecedented and I'm afraid it will be hard to come back in the future.
During Guangzhou Evergrande's heyday, it not only achieved brilliant success, but also created a number of local stars worth more than $10 million or even more than $100 million. Key players such as Gao Lin, Zheng Zhi, Feng Xiaoting and Zeng Cheng helped the team win countless honors and make a lot of money at the same time.
Today, most of Evergrande's decorated players have retired, but some of them are still active on the pitch. 37-year-old Feng Xiaoting is playing for Dongguan Dongguan United this season, while Zhao Xuri, who is the same age as him, is playing for Guangxi Hahong Pingguo this season.
This season, Dongguan Dongguan Federation and Guangxi Hahong Pingguo played twice, with Feng Xiaoting and Zhao Xuri as captains respectively. Although they have entered the end of their careers, they are not old and their performance on the pitch is still commendable.
Currently, Guangxi Hahong Pingguo is ranked fifth and second with Qingdao West Coast, with six rounds left in the league, there is still hope of overtaking. However, the team recently came with a bad news, the music department suddenly finished the contract termination with captain Zhao Xuri in advance.
Zhao Xuri made his debut with Dalian Shide. After the dissolution of Shide, he played for Shaanxi Chanba and Guizhou Renhe, before moving to Guangzhou Evergrande for a fee of 10 million yuan in the 2012 season. In his four seasons with Evergrande, Zhao was the team's starting midfielder and helped the team win four Chinese Super League titles and two Asian Champions League titles, which is a great honor.
After leaving Evergrande in 2016, Zhao Xuri also played for a number of Chinese Super League and Chinese League One teams, including Tianjin Quanjian, Dalian Ren and Sichuan Jiuniu. At the beginning of this year, the 37-year-old Zhao Xuri still had no intention of retiring, so he joined the Central League team Guangxi Hahong Pingguo.
This season, Zhao Xuri represented Guangxi Hahong Pingguo in 22 matches of the Central League. Although he only scored one league goal, his role in the team as captain was still very important. However, with three months left on his contract and the team still having hopes of surpassing it, Zhao Xuri was suddenly terminated by the club. Had he not clashed with the club's management, I believe he would have been able to play in the Central League this season.
As a Dalian man, Zhao Xuri has a very honest character. After leaving Guangzhou Evergrande, he has never spoken ill of the club or Boss Xu. Unlike some former Evergrande players, Boss Xu publicly expressed his dissatisfaction with being forced to buy his parent company's houses and financial products shortly after the accident.
Zhao Xuri has re-entered his career after terminating his contract early with Guangxi Hahong Pingo FC. Although he is reluctant to do so, considering he will turn 38 in two months and the environment of Chinese soccer is very bad, I believe Zhao Xuri will find it hard to find a job next year and he will probably announce his retirement. We would also like to wish the veteran to become a soccer coach after his retirement and contribute to the rise of Chinese soccer.
