In the spring of March 9, a piece of news like a thunderbolt exploded in the soccer circle - the players of Shenzhen Football Club, since October last year, have been caught in the predicament of no pay. After a long wait, player Dai Weijun finally reached the end of his patience and commissioned his team to file an arbitration application with the CFA, hoping to untie the knot of salary. Tianjin Daily's reporter, Shen Wei, caught this signal and analyzed the widespread problem of unpaid wages in the Chinese Super League in his article, pointing out that 70% of the clubs are in this predicament, and whether the new season of the Chinese Super League can be launched as scheduled has become an unanswered question mark.
The Shenzhan soccer team's unpaid salary fiasco has not only stirred up heated debate in the industry, but also triggered collective action by the players. Shen Wei pointed out in Tianjin Daily that with the receding of the golden dollar soccer boom, the difficulties faced by the Chinese Super League is a mirror of the true picture of Chinese men's soccer.
According to the latest reports, more than 70% of the clubs in the Chinese Super League have defaulted on wages, which is mainly closely related to the operation of the club's parent company. Guangzhou, which used to spend a lot of money, has drastically reduced its budget for the new season, and it is even rumored that the total budget for the four teams, namely the first team, the reserve team, the ladder team and the women's soccer team, is only 15 million yuan, which is a staggering reduction.
In the face of salary arrears, the players of SZFC chose to go on strike, and the team was plunged into an unprecedented state of vacation. The international footballer Dai Weijun even commissioned a lawyer to send a solemn letter to the club, and at the same time to the Chinese Football Association to apply for arbitration, in order to seek a solution within the legal framework.
Tianjin Daily hit the nail on the head: "In the era of gold-dollar soccer, players' annual salaries used to be ridiculously high, but with the ebbing of capital, many clubs can no longer afford to support them. Despite the CFA's salary limit, it will take some time for these long-term contracts to expire. In the meantime, the financial woes and wage arrears of Chinese Super League clubs will continue."
