As the 26th round of China's first division soccer league came to an end, Guangzhou (formerly Guangzhou Evergrande), once the king of domestic soccer, declared the end of their relegation journey with a victory. After the match, the players were elated, posting celebratory photos on social media to marvel at the achievement of this goal. However, the wide dissemination of this news is saddening. Looking back a few years ago, Guangzhou Evergrande was unrivaled in the Chinese Super League.
Even in the Asian Champions League, few teams dared to take them lightly. However, time has changed, and who would have guessed that they would now be in the predicament of being relegated from the Super League and barely surviving relegation in the First Division. But it's also worth celebrating because of the unimaginable challenge behind it.
The banner on the back may explain it all. In the stands, Guangzhou fans expressed their firm support for the team with the slogan "Don't cheat the youngsters". This is also the best interpretation of the team. After losing many big names and foreign aiders, Guangzhou has been struggling in the Central League most of the time, and the backbone of the team is mainly composed of young players from the Evergrande Soccer School. Despite their youthfulness and talent, the gap is obvious when compared to the adult teams.
This has been a key factor in their struggles to stay up, lacking a clear advantage in the Central League.
Of course, the decline of Evergrande's soccer school is also related to the fact that the team's owner, Xu Jiayin, is under investigation for personal issues. In the middle of this year, boss Xu had ambitiously proposed to lead Evergrande back to the Chinese Super League in three years. However, the reality is cruel, without the full support of investors, the Guangzhou team can only rely on this young team to continue to struggle, the return to the past seems to be out of reach.
Their goal can only be to maintain their current level, not to continue to decline. This is the root cause of their excitement after relegation. Some even optimistically predicted that Guangzhou would win the AFC Champions League for the third time! All of this, however, is regrettable.
A league can't do well if it can't maintain sustainability and keep changing. The same is true of Guangzhou, the Chinese Super League, and Chinese soccer. It's not just a furniture and music department, the King's decline has its own problems, and there are problems with the game itself. The professional game is based on the word professional.
