Wuhan Changjiang FC announced its withdrawal.
The rumors have finally become reality. On the evening of the fourth day of New Year's Day, Wuhan Changjiang FC released an official statement saying that it will no longer participate in the future league, officially withdrawing from Chinese soccer. Another historic club disappears before the league starts in 2023 ......
Since the end of 2011, the Zall Group has officially taken over the club for more than 11 years, witnessing the beginning and end of the golden dollar era of Chinese soccer. In the end, the club still came to the end of its exit. It is not difficult to see that the impact of the golden dollar era on Chinese soccer continues.
Public information shows that on December 14, 2011, Zall Holdings fully took over the Hubei Green Team, renamed Wuhan Zall Professional Football Club. During this period, the team faced the plight of being resold to other provinces and cities. The takeover by the Zall Holding Group allowed the team to remain in Wuhan.In early 2021, the CFA required the club to use a neutral name. At the time, according to media statistics, Zall Group invested a total of 4 billion yuan during the ten years it took over the club.
What is the concept of $4 billion? For a league champion and AFC Champions League giant, an annual investment of 2 billion yuan is just two years' worth of expenses. However, for Wuhan Changjiang FC, which has repeatedly languished in the Chinese Super League and First Division, an average annual investment of nearly 400 million yuan is absolutely astronomical.
The result of the switch back can only be considered quite satisfactory. In the past decade, Wuhan Zall surpassed three rounds ahead of schedule in 2012. However, in the first year of returning to the Chinese Super League in 2013, the club suffered relegation; after that, the team re-enlisted in the Chinese League A. In 2018, Wuhan Zall once again surpassed and locked up the Chinese League A title three rounds ahead of schedule.
Not very good value for money, to put it mildly.
Wuhan Zall won the first division title in 2018.
Of course, this is not the fault of the clubs themselves. Bound by the golden dollar era, the vast majority of Chinese Super League clubs have blindly engaged in an arms race over the past decade, with investments growing geometrically.
Similar to Zhuoer is the case of Guizhou Hengfeng. According to reports, over one billion dollars was invested in the Chinese Super League over two years. As a result, in the first year, the Chinese Super League dark horse was immediately relegated in the second year. Finally, a year ago, the club announced its dissolution.
Jianye FC investor Hu Baosen has previously complained about the exaggerated relegation budget of nearly 1 billion yuan a year. Of course, fortunately, Jianye Club has received support from the local management in terms of share reform, and the club can move forward smoothly in these two years.
For this golden dollar era that is not sustainable, the CFA has introduced various policy restrictions since 2018, including domestic and foreign aid adjustment fees and player salary restrictions, music department restrictions, the virtual fire of the golden dollar era has been slowly extinguished, and over the past two years, the vast majority of the team's investment has returned to rationality.
Even so, the side effects of the golden dollar era on Chinese soccer have not completely disappeared, especially due to the impact of the epidemic, the economic downturn of many club investors, and the withdrawal of many top league teams in recent years.
Jiangsu announced its dissolution after winning the Chinese Super League title, with Chongqing immediately following in its footsteps. Earlier, Tianjin Tianhai, one of the typical representative clubs of the Golden Dollar Era, also announced its exit. Although Hebei, another representative club of the Golden Dollar Era, has gradually transformed itself into a small business over the past two years, historical debts still bring the club to the brink of dissolution ......
Wuhan Changjiang FC fans.
Wuhan Changjiang will never be the only qualified club before the New Year's League entry. Three old powerhouses, Shanghai Shenhua, Beijing Guoan and Shandong Taishan, have been actively supported by the local management on the issue of share reform due to their deep heritage; however, clubs like Hebei, Shenzhen and Guangzhou may not be so lucky. Due to some historical problems, there is a big question mark over whether the above teams will be able to participate in this year's league. More clubs may drop out in the Central League A and Central League B.
Yan Zhi, an investor in Wuhan Changjiang FC, wrote in a lengthy article on the exit: "Because we are not professional enough, because the environment of Chinese professional soccer is too poor, club operations, team results are not satisfactory.
Indeed, whether the clubs themselves are professional or not, and whether the professional league can have a favorable environment remain two key factors for the healthy progress of the Chinese professional league in the post-golden dollar era.
