Veteran sports reporter Xu Jiang revealed in an interview that Shandong Luneng suffered a relegation crisis in the 2016 Chinese Super League season, triggered by the refusal of huge funding.
Xu Jiang described in detail, "I remember in that 2016 season, a club took the initiative to offer that if Luneng could accept 2 million yuan of financial assistance, it would be expected to succeed in relegation. However, Shandong Luneng resolutely rejected the offer."
This decision has made Luneng's road to relegation extremely bumpy, to the point that some teams have had to resort to unconventional means to survive. While I can't assert that Luneng maintained a level playing field throughout the season, based on the information I have, these circumstances cannot be ignored.
