Chen Xuyuan, the president of the CFA, had an accident, and then some of his "bad things" were found by various media, such as charging clubs up to 1.7 billion yuan for signing adjustments, which was proved to be an illegal charge to enterprises; ambiguous attitude towards the naturalization policy, and even suppression of the naturalized players, which led to the failure of the naturalization policy; and the neutral name was forced to be implemented to clubs during the epidemic, which led to the dissolution of many clubs that could not withstand the economic pressure; in addition, the media also revealed that Chen Xuyuan was playing cards at night during the national football tour to West Asia. name was forced to be implemented to the clubs, resulting in a number of clubs being unable to withstand the economic pressure and announcing their dissolution; in addition, the media also revealed that Chen Xuyuan was looking for people to play poker in the evenings during the national football team's West Asia tour.
This is another big event on the road to anti-corruption in Chinese soccer. Many people think Chen Xuyuan is wrong, but he can't throw all the dirty water on himself. It's like when the village catches a thief, and the village counts him as the one who has been stealing chickens and dogs for the past few years. Many people believe that most of the culprits for the dissolution of clubs are caused by Chen Xuyuan's enforcement of neutral names. In fact, this is not the case. The main reasons were the bursting of the gold dollar soccer bubble and the epidemic. Most of the parent companies of soccer clubs were unable to afford the operation of their teams and had to declare bankruptcy and dissolution. Chongqing and Guizhou are typical examples.
Chen Xuyuan's predecessor was Cai Zhenhua, a table tennis professional. When Cai Zhenhua became president of the CFA, few were optimistic. After all, he was an amateur leader and expert. Cai himself used the CFA as a springboard and was not involved in much during his tenure. However, Cai Zhenhua pushed the idea of the naturalized foreign player policy and eventually implemented it, a great achievement that was ultimately drowned out by President Chen.
Later, Chen Xuyuan came out from Shanghai SIPG as the president of CFA. He is a professional, engaged in professional work.At the end of 2019, during Chen Xuyuan's tenure as the chairman of the CFA, the reform of neutral names of clubs at all levels of the league should be completed before the start of the 2021 season, otherwise the CFA will not be eligible for registration.
In the long run, the implementation of neutral names is conducive to the healthy development of Chinese soccer. Some European and American clubs with a hundred-year history have been using neutral names, such as Chelsea, Atletico Madrid, Manchester United and Bayern Munich. Unlike Chinese clubs, many clubs are named by real estate investors. After the investors withdrew their money for various reasons, they had to change the names of the teams, and some fans joked that the Chinese professional league was a "real estate league".
The initial intention of the CFA to implement neutral names is good, which allows fans to form a cultural identity with the clubs and promotes the healthy development of the clubs. However, the CFA's mandatory implementation of the neutral name reform has resulted in many clubs being unable to support it and eventually going bankrupt.
Difficulty in implementing a neutral name for the soccer environment
Companies trying to make money by investing in Chinese soccer is no less than a daydream. Most real estate companies invest in soccer because they want their parent company to get a large tax exemption, a large policy tilt for purchasing land, or some benefit transfer relationship with the local sports department.
That's why these real estate companies are willing to invest in soccer. Revenues from tickets, naming rights, advertisements, etc. are just a drop in the bucket for the parent company, purely losing money to make money, which is why fast-money Internet companies are reluctant to invest in soccer. As a result, the CFA implemented a neutral name. These real estate companies even lost the right to name the lowest team. Who wants to play with you?
Epidemic adds to financial burden on clubs
When Chen Xuyuan insisted on implementing a neutral name policy, he had no idea when the epidemic would end when it became so severe that he had to do it the hard way. The clubs had no income from tickets or advertising, making it difficult for most businesses to survive. It was difficult for the gold owners behind the clubs to continue investing. After the neutral name was implemented, the investing companies even had their names erased. If they wanted to get out of the mess, there was no business to take over. Some small and medium-sized clubs can only reach the result of defaulting on wages or disbanding in the end.
As a result, Chen Xuyuan is unaccountably responsible for the bankruptcy and dissolution of some small and medium-sized clubs. If Chen Xuyuan could have slowed down and delayed the implementation of neutral names for a few years, perhaps the Furniture and Music Department could have survived the cold winter as well.
