In the 2021 season of the Premier League, we witnessed an unprecedented spectacle of soccer. At the beginning of the season, the league suffered two lengthy suspensions, starting with a nearly two-month hiatus from May 17 to July 15, followed by a four-month suspension from August 15 to December 12, which set a record for the longest league suspension in history. This left China's top league players to face six months without soccer.
The reduction of the season was also evident, with the original 30 rounds of fixtures reduced to 22. After the long pause, the Premier League had to accept an unprecedentedly intensive schedule. Starting in mid-July, the players completed nine rounds of matches in just 27 days, an average of one match every three days, and in the 24 days after December 12, they completed another eight matches, again at three-day intervals.
This counterintuitively intensive schedule has left players physically and mentally exhausted and at a much higher risk of injury. Frequent rotations have made the Chinese Super League less enjoyable to watch. While the players are trying their best, the fans are bored and the sponsors are unhappy. Against this backdrop, a way out for the national soccer team seems to be a daunting task for the federation. However, this dream seems to be out of reach.
When Chen Xuyuan took office, the problem of excessive money burning and investment in the Chinese Super League was deep in the marrow of the bones. He identified the problem and tried to solve it. However, his experience with the Shanghai club caused some of his comments to draw unnecessary opposition and disgust from fans. For example, he said bluntly at a Super League meeting, "Evergrande has won more titles, and if Chinese soccer can't go up, it's useless."
The 2020 season ended in an epidemic in the Chinese Super League, with many teams experiencing wage arrears. At a post-season governance meeting, Chen Xuyuan expressed his concern: "Our investment in the Chinese Super League is more than three times that of Japan's J-League and more than 10 times that of South Korea's K-League; the average salary of a first-team player in the Chinese Super League is 5.8 times that of a J-League player and 11.7 times that of a K-League player. Golden dollar soccer is eating up the healthy body of Chinese soccer. Haven't we woken up yet? Some people die of conscience and continue to enjoy the illusory soccer bubble environment?" This "conscience theory" has sparked an uproar.
The road back to sanity from madness in the Chinese Super League is full of challenges. The Football Association's salary restriction has shifted the pressure directly from the clubs to the players. The new contract stipulates that the maximum pre-tax salary of domestic players should not exceed 10 million yuan, and the maximum post-tax salary of foreign aid should not exceed 3 million euros. Such a policy has intensified players' panic in a short time.
In February 2021, the CSL sent a termination letter to Sport Olympic Power during its tenure, which directly led to a reduction in revenue for the clubs. The FA has chosen a slightly more extreme path to the problem of the gold dollar Super League bubble.
Before each season and in the middle of the season, Super League and League One clubs are required to submit access materials to prove that the clubs have not defaulted on wages. However, there are policies and countermeasures. Some difficult clubs persuade players to sign and then give them an IOU to ensure their team's participation in the league. This pattern has become a common practice, with at least half of the teams in the Chinese Super League resorting to this fraudulent measure.
The previously dissolved Jiangsu Suning and Chongqing teams, as well as the Wuhan Changjiang team that quit this season, are still demanding their unpaid wages. Although Chen Xuyuan has cried out "zero tolerance for unregulated operations and unpaid wages", he has not intervened or taken any punitive measures in this regard.
It was only before this season, as the problem of wage arrears expanded and worsened, that the Football Association allowed wage arrears for the first time, but demanded that players' wages be settled at a specified point in time. Bad debts and bad debts have accumulated over the past two years, and the problem of wage arrears in the Chinese Super League is like a derailed train rushing into a road of no return.
The 2021 AFC Champions League implemented a tournament system, with the group stage clashing with national team training and the Chinese Super League schedule. The FA eventually decided to suspend the CSL to ensure national team training.In the 2022 season, Shandong Taishan and Guangzhou were unable to participate in CSL matches due to the AFC Champions League, resulting in 1 draw and 11 losses.
Japan and South Korea chose to make way and fit fixtures for their teams in the AFC Champions League, while the Chinese Super League drew the ire of the AFC, dropping from the top three to 16th in the technical standings.
When Pelan and Lippi were coaches of the national team, they paid special attention to the AFC Champions League as the best opportunity for Chinese players to play against top Asian teams. But now, at club level, that opportunity has become out of reach.
Before the 2020 season, the CFA proposed a neutral name rule, which led to well-known clubs such as Jianye, Greentown and Taida disappearing from Chinese soccer history. Chen Xuyuan's old club Shanghai SIPG changed its name to "Shanghai Port", causing dissatisfaction among fans.
During Chen Xuyuan's tenure, the issue of the Football Association's adjustment fee also raised questions. When many clubs were in trouble, the FA's adjustment fee was not taken out to save the day.
Looking back at the period when Chen Xuyuan was the chairman of the Football Association, some key issues have not been resolved. The Chinese Super League has not been established for nearly four years, and the "management and separation" of the Football Association is just empty talk. Nevertheless, we should also see that the Chinese Super League home and away venues are difficult to implement, the audience can not enter, the plight of the club is mainly affected by objective factors.
The league is the foundation of the development of national soccer, the Football Association as a manager and service role, not only to make the correct guidance and planning, but more importantly, to avoid messy to and from.
