As the wave of golden dollar soccer recedes, many teams in the Chinese Super League are facing operational difficulties. Wuhan Sanzhen, the last Chinese Super League champions, recently announced publicly that its investors have decided not to inject any more money into the club. In the face of financial difficulties, Wuhan Three Town decided to transfer the club at zero cost, and at the same time provide the new owner of the current training base free of charge. The Hubei Provincial Sports Bureau has intervened in Wuhan Sanzhen to seek potential buyers. Observing the current situation, it seems that Wuhan Sanzhen will not follow in the footsteps of Jiangsu Suning and completely withdraw from the Chinese professional soccer league.
Also facing challenges is Chinese Super League (CSL) champion Beijing Guoan, where the club is mired in a serious debt spiral.Zhonghe Group took over the running of Beijing Guoan in 2017, at the height of the CSL's gold boom. Zhonghe Group, like Guangzhou Evergrande, Hebei Huaxia Happiness, Shanghai Shenhua and other real estate-backed goldmasters, invested large sums in Beijing Guoan, bringing in international-level foreign aiders such as Augusto and Bieira, and inviting Schmidt, who was once Benfica's Champions League dark horse coach, to take charge of the club. However, Sino Group has not continued to invest on a large scale.
As the golden dollar era of the Chinese Super League came to an end, Sino Group and its real estate business suffered a cold winter. In order to ease the economic pressure, Zhonghe Group had to use the equity of Guoan Club as collateral and frequently borrowed from financial institutions. It was revealed that under the borrowing operation of Zhonghe Group, the debt of Guoan Club surged to 3.2 billion yuan, and the club was exposed for defaulting on wages several times, and was even banned by FIFA. However, under the pressure of debt, Sino Group was unable to provide the necessary financial support for the club.
Nonetheless, it is only a matter of time before Sino Group withdraws from Beijing Guoan, signaling that Guoan will become the second Chinese Super League (CSL) champion after Wuhan Sanzhen, which could change ownership this summer. According to the latest news from domestic media, JD.COM Group, which currently provides shirt sponsorship for Guoan, is expected to take over the position of Zhonghe Group and become the new owner of Guoan. In addition, CITIC Group, which has been running Guoan for a long time, is also likely to buy back shares of Guoan to help the club tide over its financial difficulties.
In my opinion, as the champion team of the Chinese Super League and the symbol of the capital city, Beijing Guoan's influence and commercial value are immeasurable. Finding a new owner doesn't seem to be a difficult task. Whether it's JD.COM Group or CITIC Group, taking over the management of Guoan will help the club weather the storm, inject funds, strengthen the squad and hopefully quickly reclaim the Chinese Super League crown. C&C Group, despite running Guoan for six years, left behind a debt burden of 3.2 billion yuan and left in a hurry.
