Xinjiang Tianshan snow leopards face multiple dilemmas
On August 6, Xinjiang Tianshan Snow Leopard faced Kunshan in the 13th round of the Central League. Despite rumors that Xinjiang Tianshan Snow Leopard would withdraw from the match, they showed up as promised. However, due to the penalty imposed by the CFA, 14 of the team's players were unable to play. Although the team insisted on playing, there was a clear gap in strength and they were defeated by Kunshan 1-5.
On the eve of the match, Xinjiang Tianshan Snow Leopard released a mournful poster, "Work Together, Rise to the Challenge," informing fans of the team's predicament. The club said that 14 players would not be able to play due to their inability to pay the CFA's arbitration fees and fines. Despite this, the team has chosen to rise to the occasion and fight for Xinjiang.
The penalties stemmed from four salary disputes during the team's 2020 season. At the end of the 2020 season, three players and one staff member filed an arbitration with the CFA over salary and contract issues. The CFA arbitration result required the club to pay approximately 220,000 yuan, but Xinjiang Tianshan Snow Leopard refused to enforce the award, believing it to be unfair. The CFA then decided to add a fine of 200,000 yuan, bringing the total fine to more than 420,000 yuan.
A management of Xinjiang Tianshan Snow Leopard said, "There is no problem for the CFA to protect the interests of players, but it cannot jeopardize fairness. Just because the club didn't execute, the amount of the FA's fine is almost equal to the execution amount, which is unacceptable to the club."
In the afternoon match against Kunshan on the 6th, Xinjiang Tianshan Snow Leopard started with only 15 players on the roster and only four on the bench, including two forwards and two defenders. The team conceded a goal in the 15th minute but came back from a 0-3 deficit to equalize, but ultimately lost 1-5.
It is worth mentioning that before the game, Xinjiang Tianshan Snow Leopard No. 17 player Huang Wenzhuo's grandmother passed away, but he held back his grief and played the whole game. Only after the game, he took leave to go home to mourn. Due to the next round of games will be played on the 10th, the team will be less than one person on the list, coupled with two players injured in this round, it is uncertain whether it can make up the starting lineup of 11 people, the club can stick to it is also an unknown.
Although Xinjiang Tianshan Snow Leopard has said that matches will continue as long as the club is not disbanded, survival difficulties have plagued the only professional soccer club in Xinjiang.
This year is the 9th season in which Xinjiang Tianshan Snow Leopard has participated in the Central League. In the past four seasons, the team has been relegated three times, but all three times due to the dissolution of other teams to return to the Central League, known as "the immortal bird of the Central League". The main investor of the team is Urumqi Juntai Group, a regional real estate company. In recent years, affected by the Xin Guan epidemic and the domestic real estate market, Juntai Group has been unable to support the club's investment.
In order to survive, Xinjiang Tianshan Snow Leopard had to compress the budget again and again. Although the whole staff salary reduction, but the club on the players, coaches wages is basically "delayed no owed". Club deputy general manager Zhang Fujun said: "Tianshan Snow Leopard's wages are not high, there will be the case of late payment, but over the past nine years, Xinjiang Tianshan Snow Leopard has never appeared in a large area of unpaid wages."
Due to the lack of financial resources of Junta Group, the club has repeatedly sought support from the local government to promote equity diversification reform and mixed ownership reform. However, no substantial progress has been made so far.
Despite rumors that Xinjiang Tianshan Snow Leopard might withdraw from the Central League, the club still participated in the match against Kunshan and said, "As long as the club is not disbanded, the match will be played as usual."
