China's soccer world is facing a difficult period, with many professional league teams frequently rumored to be disbanded. What will happen to the once star-studded Guangzhou soccer team? To summarize: although Evergrande has retreated to the Central League, there is still a glimmer of hope, while Guangzhou City has dissipated and new billion-dollar clubs have emerged.
Everest Central League Stalwart:
Guangzhou Evergrande, as the leader of professional soccer in China, carries countless honors, especially after renamed as "Guangzhou Team", it has become the inheritor of the spirit of southern Guangdong soccer.
However, as the parent company's financial chain broke, Evergrande FC also experienced a 180-degree turn from "luxury" to "frugality". The core players of the team, including many foreign stars, have left the team - Wei Shihao and other players only to the end of the season to stay in the team on the condition of free agency, the team's main lineup is only left in the Evergrande Soccer School to cultivate young players to participate in the Chinese Super League competition.
Such a lineup, the strength of the natural should not be underestimated, and ultimately the Guangzhou team unfortunately relegated, in the Chinese Super League existing teams have to quit, but also failed to "make up for" the return.
In fact, due to financial difficulties, it is still unknown whether Guangzhou team can stay in the Central League. Recently, Shenzhen invested 20 million yuan to help Guangzhou tide over their difficulties and avoided the team's disbandment.
The flame of Evergrande or Guangzhou has been continued in the Central League. But while there is hope for this season, what will happen next season? When the 20 million dollars runs out, what fate will Guangzhou face?
The city of Canton was eerily dissolved:
The Guangzhou team was relegated but survived, but fellow city Guangzhou City was not spared: they managed to get relegated last season, but failed to find their name on the admission list for the new season announced by the Football Association. Guangzhou City was declared disbanded.
Guangzhou City, or Guangzhou R&F, was formerly known as Shenyang Jinde. After a lot of changes, the team finally put down roots in Guangzhou, trying to attract local fans through the "local brand" and competing fiercely with Evergrande.
In the past two years, the local sports department in Guangzhou has been trying to bring in local companies to energize or take over the two Chinese Super League teams in Guangzhou, but unfortunately, it has not worked so far. In the end, Guangzhou City failed to wait for that day to come.
On the eve of Guangzhou City's dissolution, head coach Li Weifeng said in an interview that the team still insisted on training in the hope of preserving the team and giving every player a ball to play.
Now, Guangzhou City is officially disbanded, and Li Weifeng has become the biggest victim: in 2019, when he temporarily coached Tianjin Tianhai, the team was disbanded; in 2022, when he temporarily coached Guangzhou, the team was successfully relegated, and ultimately it was hard to escape the end of the disbandment.
