The 2022 Chinese Super League (CSL) has come to an end, despite Shenzhen finishing 14th early on. However, this does not mean that they will be able to appear in the 2023 Chinese Super League.On January 13th, renowned journalist Cheng Wenli published a lengthy article about the difficulties that the Shenzhen soccer team is currently facing. According to her, the Shenzhen soccer team is not only facing a huge debt of 3.5 billion yuan, but also did not get the planned sponsorship in the case of Li Tie. The former Chinese Super League champion team, which has experienced 29 years in Chinese soccer, is really a lifeline now.
Prior to that, the Shenzhen team was banned from registering new players by the Chinese Football Association (CFA) for defaulting on wages and some transfer fees. Their investor, Jia Zhaoye Group, was also in a business crisis. It turned out that Shenzhen had hoped to facilitate the takeover of Shenzhen soccer by Shenzhen Investment Control, but the huge debt of 3.5 billion yuan deterred Shenzhen Investment Control. In fact, this huge debt fund of 3.5 billion yuan belongs to the loan provided by Shenzhen soccer investor Jia Zhaoye Group to Shenzhen soccer. If all of this money is transferred to the buyer who intends to take over Shenzhen soccer, there is only one end result, and that is to scare off the other side.
Is this episode déjà vu? A previous team that won the Chinese Super League title and announced its dissolution did so because the gold masters behind them made every investment in the club in the form of loans. Under this model, the club's debt was in the billions. So even with a GDP in one of the top three economic powerhouses in China, that club still can't escape going up in smoke.
The same is true for Sham Shui Po today. Unless Jia Zhaoye Group comes up with a sincere debt relief plan, SZF will be left unattended. What's worse, today's SZFC is caught in the Li Tie case fiasco. Following former international player Zhang Lu, Ding Yong, general manager of SZFC, was also taken away. So far, two officials, three current players and former deep soccer players have been taken away for investigation. If you end up committing a real crime, it will have an extremely serious negative impact on the image of Shenzhen Football Club. By then, not only will investors be deterred, but sponsors from all walks of life will also stay away. At that time, the deep football really can not return to heaven.
