On June 3, the 2022 season of the Chinese Super League will be opened in grand style, however, just as this moment arrives, Chongqing Two Rivers Athletic Football Club has come with a shocking news.
Yesterday, Chongqing Two Rivers Athletic released an official statement announcing its withdrawal from the Chinese Super League and its decision to cease operations and disband the team. This marks the third consecutive year that a team has left the Chinese professional soccer league in disgrace since the 2020 season of Tianjin Tianhai and the 2021 season of Jiangsu.
Looking back at the 25-year history of Chongqing soccer, from the avant-garde Huandao to Chongqing Lifan to Chongqing Two Rivers Athletics, the team wrote a brilliant chapter of professional soccer in the west, and also added a bright sports landscape for the city of Chongqing.
Since the beginning of last year, the Chongqing club and the local authorities have repeatedly negotiated the share reform, hoping to retain the flame of Chongqing professional soccer. However, the share reform work failed to progress as scheduled, and the club has accumulated debts and is no longer able to continue its operation. The players had expressed in an open letter their willingness to automatically give up the salary owed by the club before April 30, 2021, in the hope of completing the share reform according to the plan to save the team, but ultimately failed to prevent the team from going to the end of the fate.
With the withdrawal of Chongqing Two Rivers Athletic, the Chinese Super League will have to face schedule adjustments in the new season. Currently, the Chinese Football Association (CFA) and the preparatory team of the Chinese Football League (CFL) are urgently discussing a plan to deal with the situation. The original plan is that no Chinese League One teams will be substituted into the Chinese Super League, and there will be 17 teams participating in the new season. The Chongqing team involved in the tournament will all be sentenced to 0-3 losses, the team also locked the relegation quota in advance.
However, according to the latest news, there is still the possibility of activating the second plan. In order to maintain the fair competition of the league and other factors, the CFA and the preparatory group of the CFL still hope to maintain the number of 18 teams, do not rule out the emergency replacement of a team into the new season of the Chinese Super League, as well as the possibility of replacement of a team into the new season of the Chinese First League. In fact, two years ago, the Cangzhou Lions also had to be replaced to participate in the Chinese Super League.
If this proposal is finally confirmed, according to the professional league club replacement rules, the Dalian People, which was originally included in the new season of the Central League, and Shanghai Jiading Huilong, which was included in the new season of the Central B League, are expected to be replaced in the new season of the Chinese Super League and the Central League respectively.
Once the Dalian People have been handed a place in the Chinese Super League, the team may need to stay in the Dalian region. The Chongqing Liangjiang Athletic team has been placed in the Haikou division and will face defending champions Shandong Taishan in the opening match, so the initial travel plan may face adjustments.
It is understood that the Dalian People's Club is currently waiting for the resolution of the Chinese Football Association. It is reported that there is still disagreement within the CFA about the two proposals, and whether the Dalian People can return to the Chinese Super League by replacement will be revealed soon.
