On March 29, the CFA finally announced the list of clubs accepted for the 2023 professional league season.
Guangzhou Evergrande (Guangzhou team), the most representative club of Chinese soccer in the past 10 years, won 8 league titles and 2 AFC Champions League titles, invited world famous coaches such as Lippi, Scolari and Cannavaro, and brought in big-name foreigners such as Paulinho, Golat, Konka, Talisca and Gilardino. However, with the unsatisfactory financial situation of Evergrande Group, the club has been relegated to the Central League last year, although it has not been dissolved.
Evergrande Group started to invest in soccer in 2010, taking "saving Chinese soccer" as its mission. 12 years later, Evergrande has been relegated. Chinese soccer has not been saved, but has fallen into a deeper valley.
The number of dissolved Chinese professional soccer clubs in the past 10 years is so high that it's hard to put a specific number on it. The same drama plays out before the start of almost every season, especially in the last three years.
The fate of these soccer clubs that have been dissolved or about to be dissolved is almost the same - the investment company behind them has no money, and the soccer clubs that "only spend money and do not make money" are excised like tumors.
Throughout the history of the development of China's professional soccer league in the past 30 years, most clubs have been in a non-benign and irrational state of existence. It has its own unique law of life and death, and year after year, several generations have wandered outside the normal trajectory of professional soccer development.
The beginnings of a professional soccer club
In the early years, the embryonic Chinese professional soccer clubs were basically teams from provinces and cities participating in the National Games. These players came from the youth training system of each province and city and started to form teams at the age of 14 or 15. If the age of the All Games soccer matches was set to U16 and U20, a group of players could play two matches in a row.
In preparation for the National Games competition, many local football associations register their teams as clubs and then seek sponsorship from local businesses to apply to play in the lowest level of the Champions League (which until 2018 was League B). This gives the team more games to play in preparation for the National Games, as well as putting some people's professional soccer dreams on the line.
After the Games, that is, after the age of 20, these players came to a crossroads of destiny along with the team. If companies continue to sponsor and support, the team can survive and continue to participate in the professional league. Otherwise, in the absence of playing duties, they can only be automatically disbanded, and the players can find their own way out, some playing for other clubs, some going to school, and some entering society.
Sichuan Lidas and Sichuan Annapurna, which were disbanded a few years ago, were basically this model. They were based on the Sichuan National Games team. Later, they stayed through the sponsorship of local companies, and then they could not escape disbandment due to lack of funds.
Last year, when Lazy Bear Sports talked to former national soccer team captain Du Wei, he told this story:He played for Shanghai Cable 02 before he was 20 years old, playing in the B league and then the National Games. After the National Games, the team's goal was to rush to the AB League, but failed. Sponsors stopped investing and the team was disbanded.
However, at the National Games, the best players from these clubs will be transferred to provincial and municipal teams to compete. For example, in May 2011, the Guangdong Football Sports Center signed a cooperation agreement with Minmetals Construction Company Limited, which invested 1 million yuan to name the Guangdong Men's Football Youth Team. This Guangdong youth team has players from the 1993-94 age group.In 2009, they participated in the 11th National Games and finished in 4th place. With the sponsorship, the team participated in the China B League in 2011 in preparation for the 2013 National Games.
The players of the team belong to Guangzhou Evergrande, Guangzhou R&F, Shandong Luneng, Guangdong Rizhiquan, Meixian Hakka Club and other clubs. Famous clubs include Liu Binbin, Chang Feiya, Liao Junjian, Fang Jingqi and Yang Chao. After the National Games, the team is automatically disbanded and the players need to return to the clubs they belonged to before according to their contracts.
Purpose and original intention of investing in soccer
Whether it's an "undisbanded National Games team" or a soccer club that has worked its way up from the bottom of the ladder, there must be adequate financial support when it enters the professional league.
For example, the Hebei team, which was disbanded this time, was formerly known as the Hebei Provincial All-China Team. They started playing in the B league in 2011. Three years later, they stormed into China A, getting investment from Hebei Zhongji Property Group.
China's professional soccer league has been in development for 30 years, and clubs basically have a single shareholding structure. Only one parent company invests, and their rise and fall determines the survival of the club.
After joining Guangzhou City FC in 2011, R&F Group invited big name foreigners and coaches such as Xavi and Stojkovic to participate in the AFC Champions League, but after 12 years of investment, they couldn't escape their destiny.R&F Group basically gave up on the club last season, and the team completed the league with the joint support of GAC, Yuexiu Group, and Guangzhou City Investment Group.
When Guangzhou Evergrande Group continued to invest in soccer, the team won two AFC Champions League titles. Immediately after the Evergrande Group crisis, the team declined, with international players leaving the team in droves and quickly dropping from the Chinese Super League to the Chinese First Division. During this period, there were numerous rumors of Guangzhou's disbandment, and the team was not officially centralized until this week in preparation for the new China First Division season. To make matters worse, clubs such as Shide, Quanjian and Qianbao were arrested for illegal behavior by the heads of their investment groups, and the clubs announced their dissolution after not lasting long.
It is undeniable that many enterprises invest in soccer with the initial intention of respecting and loving the sport. However, the purpose of some enterprises investing in soccer is not so pure, they hope to narrow the relationship between the enterprise and the local government through investment, so as to obtain more benefits other than soccer. Once these "interests" are not met, the enthusiasm for investing in soccer will drop to freezing point.
Dismissed in a field of chicken feathers
In China, professional soccer has a problem that can never be solved - not being able to make ends meet. some clubs that spend money like crazy have revenues that are less than 1/100th of their investment. even small clubs try to break even, which is unrealistic.
Chinese professional soccer clubs make money from player transfers, sponsors, match tickets, club peripherals and league dividends. Dividends in the Chinese Super League are up to around RMB 60 million a year, but there are almost no dividends in the Chinese League A and B.
Apart from decent revenues from tickets, sponsors and peripheral product development in big cities such as the north, Shanghai and Guangzhou, other small and medium-sized clubs basically make no money. With the help of local governments and sports administrations, some clubs are able to sign contracts with sponsors, but this can only address temporary needs rather than a long-term solution.
Some small and medium-sized clubs can earn a sizable transfer fee by selling players and use the money to maintain the operation of the club, which is also a mode of survival in professional soccer. However, the transfer market in China is not perfect. Lazy Bear Sports has heard this joke: a Chinese Super League club sells two players to another Chinese Super League club and the transfer fees are paid in installments. Then some of the transfer fees were in arrears for two years and were not honored. The bosses of the two clubs even cursed each other on WeChat.
During these three years of recurring epidemics, the Premier League has implemented a competition system where clubs make negligible income from tickets, sponsors and club peripherals. Year-end dividends were reduced from a maximum of 60 million yuan to 10 million yuan for the 2021 season and 8 million yuan for the 2022 season.
When the investment company is in good financial shape, it's not much of a problem to run such a losing business, and you can even get a couple of championships by throwing money at it. Once the economic situation of the investment company is not ideal, it will collapse. After winning the Chinese Super League title, the dissolution of Jiangsu Suning brought a great deal of negative impact on the image of Chinese soccer.
At the end of the 2022 season, Wuhan Changjiang announced the dissolution of the club, and the investor, Zall Group, promised to pay the outstanding wages of players and coaches in installments. Against the backdrop of most professional soccer clubs "announcing their dissolution with the aim of absorbing their debts", the normal operation of Wuhan Changjiang has become a rare quality in Chinese soccer.
Chinese professional soccer clubs are all limited liability companies with no investors and no independent registration. Legally speaking, after a club has been dissolved, the players' demand for salary can only be directed to this "independent registered limited liability company". The announcement of the club's dissolution also means that the club's disputes will not continue to be registered with the CFA, and the latter will not accept them.
When Liaozhu FC was dissolved in 2020, it owed players 38.66 million yuan in wages and bonuses. In order to get their wages, the players went to pull banners in front of the provincial sports bureau, but could not solve the problem. Later they chose labor arbitration and won the lawsuit, but couldn't get the money. The reason was that there was no money in the club's account and no physical assets - the office and training base were rented, and the value of the remaining office supplies was negligible. This situation is very common in Chinese soccer, where many salaried players eventually find out that the club's only asset is a bus.
