Can Chinese soccer return to glory after three years of epidemic shock?

At the dawn of 2019, Wu Lei resolutely said goodbye to the rich salary and set foot on the land of Spain, becoming the fire of hope for Chinese soccer. Fans eagerly expect more Chinese players to go abroad, however, in the past three years, in addition to Wu Lei, only Li Lei really step out of the country. ! [Wu Lei](https://www.ballti.com/UploadFiles/Sinaimg/202301/2023011002465391977371828.png) Shandong Luneng brought in Fellaini from Manchester United for 12 million euros, Guangzhou R&F signed Moussa Dembele from Tottenham Hotspur for 6 million euros, Dalian bought Hamsik for 20 million euros, and Tianjin Teda brought in Wagner from Bayern Munich. Ma Shenzhen Jiazhaoye and Wuhan Zhuoer also invested a lot of money in reinforcements during this period. However, these adjustments seem to be unable to stop the buying frenzy of the Chinese Super League giants. ! [Super League giants' buying spree](https://www.ballti.com/UploadFiles/Sinaimg/202301/2023011002465481027741828.png) At that time, the league's worries were also spreading, many lower league teams quit, the problem of salary arrears has spread to the Chinese Super League, and the trusteeship of Tianjin Quanjian Thunder has buried many ambiguities and hidden dangers. At the end of 2019, Lippi announced his resignation as head coach of the Chinese team, and his words were both angry and thought-provoking, accusing the Chinese team of "lacking desire, courage and fighting spirit" and lamenting that "my salary is just too high" before announcing his departure directly. ! [Lippi's departure](https://www.ballti.com/UploadFiles/Sinaimg/202301/2023011002465526340401828.png) The CFA has begun to re-select coaches, returning to the route of local coaches. This time, they chose Li Tie, who coaches at Wuhan Zall. After Wu Lei landed in La Liga, Li Tie pushed the club to sign Spanish striker Baptista, an incident that has now become a point of controversy. ! [Li Tie cited](https://www.ballti.com/UploadFiles/Sinaimg/202301/2023011002465571652201828.png) From Asia's No. 1 league to Asia's 16th in 2021, the Chinese Super League's golden dollar era came to an end, with Jiangsu Suning announcing its withdrawal after winning the title, Shandong Taishan being disqualified, and Shanghai Port falling to Caja Filipinas in the qualifying round. At this point, the problem of teams defaulting on wages became more serious. In addition, the AFC Champions League became irrelevant with the tournament system and the need for segregation upon returning home. ! [The Golden Dollar Era of the Chinese Super League](https://www.ballti.com/UploadFiles/Sinaimg/202301/2023011002465571652201828.png) In the 2022 season, the same drama played out again. Changchun Yatai announced their withdrawal and Shanghai Port had to forfeit the competition. The CFA continues to not make way for the AFC Champions League. Shandong Taishan and Guangzhou could only compete with their ladder teams, and the end result was one draw and eleven losses. ! [Chinese Super League woes](https://www.ballti.com/UploadFiles/Sinaimg/202301/2023011002465677902721828.jpg) The poor results have a direct impact on the decline of the Chinese Super League's technical points and the reduction of the AFC Champions League's quota. The Chinese Super League, once ranked No. 1 and known as Asia's No. 1 league, has now fallen to 16th place, behind India and Iraq. ! [Chinese Super League ranking](https://www.ballti.com/UploadFiles/Sinaimg/202301/2023011002465779464641828.png) In the 2023-2024 season, the AFC Champions League will become an inter-season league, and the Chinese Super League will still have a "2+2" quota. However, in the 2024-2025 season, the Chinese Super League will only have one AFC Champions League quota, meaning that only the Chinese Super League champions will be able to participate. In the second tier of the AFC Cup, the Chinese Super League will have a "1+1" quota. ! [AFC Champions League quota](https://www.ballti.com/UploadFiles/Sinaimg/202301/2023011002465779464641828.png) Isolation of the national football team: poor performance, players collapse In three years, the Chinese team has participated in 14 official matches, including 0 in 2020, 10 in 2021 and 4 in 2022. ! [National football team's record](https://www.ballti.com/UploadFiles/Sinaimg/202301/2023011002465932591371828.png) These days, the pain is unbearable. In Asia, by contrast, 2022 World Cup hosts Qatar not only participated in the Asian Top 40, but also in European qualifiers, the North American Gold Cup, the Arab Cup and a lengthy warm-up tournament, while neighbors Japan and South Korea competed against the likes of Brazil and Ghana. ! [Asian Football](https://www.ballti.com/UploadFiles/Sinaimg/202301/2023011002465957592651828.png) China's only warm-up matches were five unofficial matches against the Chinese Super League and the Chinese First Division, winning five in a row. This has become the laughing stock of many media and fans. ! [Chinese Super League warm-up matches](https://www.ballti.com/UploadFiles/Sinaimg/202301/2023011002465985715781828.jpg) After the 2020 Chinese Super League was forced to participate in the tournament system, fans were enthusiastic, at least for the final match between Jiangsu Suning, home and away, and Guangzhou Evergrande.The 2021 season saw fans intermittently make it to the third match, but attendance was minimal. After all, the hardcore of having fans travel all the way to other places, undergo nucleic acid testing, and avoid isolation just for a low-quality Chinese Super League game is becoming less and less common. ! [Fans watching the game](https://www.ballti.com/UploadFiles/Sinaimg/202301/202301100247007597351828.png) Towards the end of the season, with the change in quarantine policy and gradual liberalization, many teams actually had home stadiums that actually let fans into the stadium. In Chengdu's game against Wuhan Sanzhen, 32,000 fans poured in. In the final game, which included the championship ceremony for Wuhan Sanzhen and a key match for Zhejiang's entry into the AFC Champions League, a large number of fans were in attendance. The atmosphere really disappeared for too long, although most still wore masks. ! [Fans return](https://www.ballti.com/UploadFiles/Sinaimg/202301/202301100247252903471828.jpg) In contrast, the experience of many teams and fans can only be described as painful and helpless. Qingdao Yellow Sea entered the Chinese Super League in 2019. after the 2021 season, the team simply withdrew from the professional league due to economic difficulties. Instead of playing an official game at home due to the epidemic, they disappeared from the map of Chinese soccer. ! [Team withdrew](https://www.ballti.com/UploadFiles/Sinaimg/202301/202301100247266967141828.png) Chongqing was in a similar situation, as the team fought until the last minute for the second year in a row, had no time to say goodbye to their home fans, and announced that they would never be seen again. ! [Chongqing team quits](https://www.ballti.com/UploadFiles/Sinaimg/202301/202301100247287278661828.png) For example, the league could not follow its normal schedule, and the complete loss of away matches resulted in sponsors' interests not being safeguarded, and the club's dividends and interests would inevitably be greatly jeopardized. ! [Impact of the league](https://www.ballti.com/UploadFiles/Sinaimg/202301/2023011002472810323111828.png) Unfortunately, without big brands, without viewers, and in disarray, the CSL, with its commercial value hitting rock bottom, is unable to attract more and better sponsors and broadcasters, especially in the 2022 season, when the CSL is still going on during the World Cup for more than a month, 10 rounds of matches, an average of 3 days, and the CSL looks worthless and annoying in comparison. ! [Chinese Super League woes](https://www.ballti.com/UploadFiles/Sinaimg/202301/202301100247287278661828.png) One of the most immediate results of the Asian Cup is that the Chinese team has not played any official soccer matches since the end of the Top 12 tournament this past year. Head coach Li Xiaopeng has made no public appearances and has not been to a single game in the Chinese Super League. Whether he continues as the national soccer coach remains a mystery. ! [Asian Cup](https://www.ballti.com/UploadFiles/Sinaimg/202301/202301100247307591291828.jpg) Times are different, a cell phone can solve almost all problems, a short video software can make everyone happy all night. Watching the five major leagues in full swing, watching the passion of the World Cup players and fans, Chinese soccer seems to have become an outsider, not only do we no longer care about the game, the team and the players, and even completely entertained Chinese soccer, a variety of spoofs, rumors become a variety of network celebrities traffic harvester. ! [Chinese soccer](https://www.ballti.com/UploadFiles/Sinaimg/202301/202301100247321652701828.png) Even in the first 12 matches before the Qatar World Cup, people still had hope, but it was disappointment and even despair. Yes, with the current strength of the national soccer team against Australia and Japan, it's basically impossible to get into the first 12 games. But if there was no epidemic, would it have given Chinese soccer players more hope, at least under normal circumstances, even if you knew the script would result in failure? ! [World Cup](https://www.ballti.com/UploadFiles/Sinaimg/202301/202301100247337334521828.png) I can't go back. Solving these problems is imminent The world is full of well-intentioned cover-ups and malicious confessions. The arrival of the epidemic has not only accelerated the collapse of the Chinese Super League's Golden Dollar League, it has also exposed more of China's soccer problems, leaving previously expectant fans choosing to stay away, not watching, not listening, not paying attention to Chinese soccer, a damage that is often irreparable. ! [Chinese soccer problems](https://www.ballti.com/UploadFiles/Sinaimg/202301/202301100247356038011828.png) A lot of things in the world are very subtle, hypothetically, if there is no epidemic factor, the national soccer coach Li Tie, will complain about the loss of the home field, so that the team scored 6 points less, will be in the press conference crazy output, if there is no argument, Li Tie a series of serious violations of the law, will continue to be covered up? Chinese soccer players will continue to wear a mask singing and dancing? ! [Chinese soccer](https://www.ballti.com/UploadFiles/Sinaimg/202301/202301100247356038011828.png) Assumptions are, after all, assumptions, and no matter how much they are recalled, they must ultimately face the future. Because time simply cannot be reversed. ! [Future](https://www.ballti.com/UploadFiles/Sinaimg/202301/202301100247356038011828.png) The top priority for Chinese soccer remains making the league healthy and normal, while urging the music department to address the issue of unpaid wages. Regularize the schedule and resume home and away matches. In the era of the golden dollar, not to mention five years, or even ten years can not go back, in this case, it is best to recognize the reality, give up the illusion, step by step to start again. ! [League Health](https://www.ballti.com/UploadFiles/Sinaimg/202301/2023011002472768133401828.png) How many years have been stolen from us before we can get our feet on the ground and work from every step? Over the past three years, all walks of life have been affected in one way or another. Some have gotten up after setbacks, wiped away their tears and continued on their way, while others are still struggling in the mud. While the impact of Chinese soccer has not yet reached fatal levels, a rebirth is not too much to ask. ! [Chinese soccer](https://www.ballti.com/UploadFiles/Sinaimg/202301/2023011002472902507511828.png) Three years after being stolen by the epidemic, Chinese soccer does not help to feel and remember the once glorious years. Frankly speaking, Chinese soccer has been stolen for more than three years, not as good as standing in front of the mirror to their own unbearable and scars. ! [Chinese soccer](https://www.ballti.com/UploadFiles/Sinaimg/202301/2023011002472902507511828.png) All that cleverness and deception, all those unrealistic fantasies, serve no other purpose than to make Chinese soccer drink poison to quench its thirst and fall into unrealistic fantasies.