Guangzhou, the eight-time Chinese Super League champions, are now in 12th place in the Central League, 10 points ahead of the relegation zone and seemingly locked in a relegation spot. Despite the fact that there are still a few rounds left in the league, Guangzhou still harbors the ambition to hit the top eight of the league. Soccer Daily reveals that even though Xu Jiayin has been subjected to mandatory measures, the daily operations of the Guangzhou team, its club and the Evergrande Football School remain as normal, and preparations for the China League One matches have not been affected. The club's management is working methodically to promote the team's future development.
Mr. Xu has long since stopped injecting capital into the Guangzhou team and the Evergrande Football School Level 1, and it is not easy for the Guangzhou team to achieve such results under the economic pressure. Nowadays, Evergrande Football School has the ability to be self-financing. At the end of May this year, Liu Qian, the principal of Evergrande Football School, was appointed as the chairwoman of Guangzhou Football Club, and since then, the destiny of Guangzhou team and Evergrande Football School has been closely linked with her. She is working hard to attract investment for both. However, finding a private or state-owned company with the strength to take over the Guangzhou team seems out of reach at the moment. In order to survive, Guangzhou can only hope that the CFA will refund the transfer adjustment fees paid during the golden dollar soccer era.
In the golden dollar era of the Chinese Super League (CSL), teams such as Guangzhou Evergrande, Shanghai Port, and Jiangsu Suning went on a rampage to bring in high-level internal and external reinforcements. In order to curb the over-reliance on the CFA, a policy was introduced that required the introduction of a certain number of foreign aiders or more to pay a transfer adjustment fee. After the implementation of the neutral name policy by the CFA, many powerful companies have withdrawn from the Chinese Super League, resulting in the bursting of the gold dollar soccer bubble and operational difficulties for many teams. The teams are eager for the FA to refund the transfer adjustment fee in order to make ends meet. However, former CFA chairman Chen Xuyuan and senior officials have not refunded this fee, nor have they clearly stated where it is going. Currently, the Guangzhou team is looking forward to the return of the fee by the CFA to help the team tide over its difficulties.
Despite Guangzhou's operational difficulties, the Evergrande Football Academy has become the cradle of youth soccer training in China. The strength of the football school players in the first team and in the 2007 and 2008 age groups is extraordinary, and they are valuable assets for the future of Chinese soccer. In fact, in the U15 national youth team that won the East Asian Championship, 11 players came from the Evergrande School. Only if the team and the football school find a sustainable path can these players grow better. "At present, most of the main players of the Guangzhou team are from the Evergrande Football School. With the Guangzhou team as an important platform, the young players from the school have been fully practiced and their individual abilities have been significantly improved. The Guangzhou team has also selected a number of outstanding players from them, who will become the key force in the rise of the team or the Chinese national team.
Before Chairman Xu was brought under the control of the authorities, he held a meeting where he suggested that Guangzhou's primary goal for this season was to stay in the relegation race and try to return to the Chinese Super League in the 2024 season. While Xu's return to the throne seems unlikely, the kids from the Evergrande Football Academy are really performing well in the Chinese League One. If the CFA refunds the transfer regulation fee, Guangzhou's business situation will improve dramatically. If the chairman can operate efficiently and attract investment to bring in one or two foreigners, Guangzhou's hopes of making it to the Super League next season will no longer be up in the air.
