On April 16, the dust settled from the first round of Chinese Super League (CSL) matches. According to Sports Weekly, the official sponsors and allies of the Chinese Super League have been streamlined from 11 to 8, with as many as 5 clubs failing to offer jersey advertising space as they had hoped.
In the first match of the 2023 Chinese Super League (CSL) season, Beijing Guoan sat at home to meet the challenge of Meizhou Hakka. This is the first time in the history of the Chinese Super League that a team from a small town will be playing in Beijing for the first time. Surprisingly, the Meizhou Hakka players' ad-free jerseys stood out, as if they were out of place in this visual feast. Such "naked" jerseys are not unique to the Meizhou Hakka team. Teams such as the newly promoted Nantong Zhiyun, Qingdao Hainiu and Shenzhen are also like this. The Tianjinmen Tigers have printed the team name on the chest of the jersey, but apparently the advertising space is still vacant. Not long ago, overseas youngster Efirdin also appeared in an advertisement wearing the jersey of Sweden's top club.
Compared to last year, the number of official sponsors and partners at all levels of the Chinese Super League has shrunk to eight this year. Although Ping An renewed its naming rights, the sponsorship money has shrunk by half. This shows that the resumption of the home-and-away system has not instantly eased the financial pressure on the Chinese Super League.
Sports Weekly pointed out that the Chinese Super League expects to gradually climb the value of its brand as the league gets on track by improving professional governance, enhancing match transparency and improving the spectatorship of the event, and only in this way.
