At the beginning of 2019, Wu Lei resolutely gave up his favorable salary and embarked on the journey of Spaniards, becoming the trust of the national football team. Fans are looking forward to more international players to go out of the country, however, in the past three years, in addition to Wu Lei, only Li Lei has really stepped on the green field in his home country.
Shandong Luneng spent 12 million euros to bring in Fellaini from Manchester United, Guangzhou R&F signed Moussa Dembele for 6 million euros, Dalian invested 20 million euros in acquiring Hamšík, and Tianjin Teda also signed Wagner from Bayern Munich. Shenzhen Jiazhaoye and Wuhan Zhuoer and other teams also spared no effort to attract reinforcements, the Chinese Super League's trend of luxury purchases can not be stopped.
However, behind all this prosperity, the hidden worries of the league are gradually emerging. Many lower league teams have quit, wage arrears have spread to the Chinese Super League, and the trusteeship of the Tianjin Quanjian Thunder has sowed countless hidden dangers.
At the end of 2019, Lippi announced his resignation as China's head coach, which he did after expressing his disappointment with the Chinese team in his exit declaration, criticizing the team's lack of desire, grit, and fighting spirit, and bluntly talking about his high salary.
The CFA then began a search for a new head coach, returning to the route of local coaches. They eventually chose Li Tie, who coaches at Wuhan Zall. After Wu Lei joined La Liga, Li Tie pushed the club to sign Spanish striker Baptista, a decision that has now become a highly controversial topic.
From Asia's top league to the bottom of the rankings, Chinese soccer's fall was lamentable. 2021 saw the end of the Chinese Super League's golden dollar era, with Jiangsu Suning withdrawing after winning the title, Shandong Taishan being disqualified, and Shanghai Harbour going down to Caja Philippines in the qualifying rounds. At this point, the teams' wage arrears problem is getting worse. In addition, the AFC Champions League became unattractive with the tournament system and the need for segregation upon returning home.
In the 2022 season, a similar drama played out again. Changchun Yatai announced their withdrawal and Shanghai Port had no choice but to forfeit the competition. The CFA still had no intention of making way for the AFC Champions League. Shandong Taishan and Guangzhou could only participate with their ladder teams, with a final record of 1 draw and 11 losses.
These poor results have directly affected the technical points of the Chinese Super League and the quota of the AFC Champions League. The Chinese Super League, once ranked No. 1 in Asia on the strength of its excellent results, has now fallen to 16th place, behind India and Iraq.
In the 2023-2024 season, the AFC Champions League will change to a cross-season format, and the Chinese Super League will still maintain its "2+2" quota. However, in the 2024-2025 season, the Chinese Super League will only have one AFC Champions League quota, i.e. 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.
The national soccer team has a poor record and the players are physically and mentally exhausted. In three years, the Chinese team has participated in 14 official matches, including 0 in 2020, 10 in 2021 and 4 in 2021.
Compared to other Asian countries, the Chinese team's training and playing conditions seem particularly tough. Qatar, as the host of the World Cup, not only participated in the Asian 40 tournament, but also participated in a number of warm-up matches such as the European qualifiers, the North American Gold Cup, the Arab Cup, etc. Japan and South Korea also competed against strong teams such as Brazil and Ghana.
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 became a laughing stock for many media and fans.
After the 2020 Chinese Super League was forced to adopt a tournament system, fans were enthusiastic, at least for the final match between Jiangsu Suning at home and away against Guangzhou Evergrande.The 2021 season saw fans intermittently make it to the third game, but attendance was extremely low. After all, the hardcore fans who make fans travel all the way around the world, taking nucleic acid tests and avoiding quarantine, just to watch a low-quality Chinese Super League game, are becoming fewer and fewer.
With the change in anti-epidemic policy and gradual liberalization, many teams actually got home stadiums and actually let fans into the stadiums. In Chengdu's match 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 far too long, although most still wore masks.
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. at the end of the 2021 season, the team simply withdrew from the professional league due to financial difficulties. Instead of playing an official game at home due to an epidemic, they disappeared from the map of Chinese soccer.
It was a similar situation in Chongqing, where the team fought to the last minute for the second year in a row, with no time to say goodbye to the home fans and announce that they would never be seen again.
For example, the league cannot follow the normal schedule and the complete loss of away matches will result in the interests of sponsors not being safeguarded, and the dividends and interests of the clubs are bound to be greatly jeopardized.
Unfortunately, without big brands, without viewers, the chaotic Chinese Super League, with its commercial value hitting rock bottom, is unable to attract more and better sponsors and broadcasters, especially for the 2022 season, which was initially over a month long, with 10 rounds, averaging 3 days, to make way for the national soccer team, and which continued during the World Cup, making it look worthless and annoying by comparison.
One of the most immediate results of the Asian Cup is that the Chinese team hasn't 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.
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, all kinds of spoofs, rumors, and become all kinds of network celebrity traffic harvesters.
Even in the first 12 matches before the World Cup in Qatar, there was still 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 make 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?
I can't go back. Solving these problems is imminent. 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.
The world is full of well-intentioned concealments and malicious confessions. The arrival of the epidemic not only accelerated the collapse of the Chinese Super League's golden dollar league, but 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.
Hypotheticals are hypotheticals after all, and no matter how much you look back, you will eventually have to face the future. Because time simply cannot be reversed.
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. Normalize 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.
How many years have been stolen from us so that we can put our feet up and work from every step? Over the past three years, all walks of life have been affected in one way or another. Some have stood 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.
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, rather than standing in front of the mirror to their own unbearable and scars.
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.
