At the end of 2022, the Chinese Super League drew to a close, but left behind a number of surprising chapters. Unlike the New Year atmosphere of 2021, the 2022 season of the Chinese Super League came to a successful conclusion at the end of the year, bringing us numerous surprises. One of the most amazing is that Wuhan Three Town won the championship for the first time in the Chinese Super League, writing the "Kaiserslautern Myth" of modern soccer. However, Guangzhou Evergrande, the giants of the Chinese Super League (CSL), who have won seven consecutive championships and eight AFC Champions League titles in the history of the league, were unexpectedly relegated, which aroused a great deal of concern.
The relegation of Guangzhou team has made many fans feel a lot of emotions: "The high building rises, the banquet is full of guests, and the building collapses and empties." Evergrande's glorious decade was the peak of the Chinese Super League's golden dollar era. However, with the break of the financial chain, their performance fell down. Last year, they were in the third place of the league, but now they have been relegated to the bottom two. With the club no longer investing, foreigners, naturalized players and internationals leaving the team, and having to rely on young players from soccer schools to cope with the league, the results speak for themselves.
Although the team has been rumored to be disbanded, and even came close to outright disbanding in the intermission of the 2021 season, the team has chosen to stick around now that it has been relegated. Some have wondered why Guangzhou didn't disband in the face of financial and personnel woes. The answer may be revealed soon.
Recently, reporter Cheng Wenli broke the news that the Shenzhen team, another tycoon team in the Chinese Super League's golden dollar era, may be disbanded. Since the 2019 season of the Super League, the Shenzhen team has invested highly in the introduction of high-priced foreign aid and international players, but has never been able to achieve the desired results. Cheng Wenli analyzed that the Shenzhen football team is facing a huge debt of 3.5 billion yuan, and if all of them are transferred to the buyer, it is feared that potential investors will be scared away. The Shenzhen municipal government had hoped to facilitate a takeover, but the huge debt made the receiver skeptical of GZL's sincerity, leading to the stagnation of the stock reform. There might have been a silver lining if JIAJI had offered a sincere debt relief package, but the furor over Li Tie's case has added to SZFC's woes, and sponsorship money has failed to materialize. The situation of SZFC is precarious, and if there is no source of funds, dissolution is feared to be inevitable.
If the Shenzhen team does disband, who will be the beneficiary? There is speculation that third-ranked Wuhan Changjiang could be the next victim. Therefore, Wuhan Changjiang is likely to be waiting for the gap between the dissolution of the Chinese Super League. In this case, Guangzhou, although relegated due to the bottom two, may be relegated passively due to the dissolution of other teams that are substituting for the Chinese Super League. This may be the very reason why Guangzhou insisted on not disbanding.
In fact, not only the Shenzhen team, but many Chinese Super League teams are facing capital and stock reforms, and the risk of dissolution is everywhere. The wait for the Guangzhou team may actually have value. What are your thoughts on these situations? Feel free to leave a comment in the comment section to discuss!
