Original title: The 2022 season schedule is fragmented, the issue of salary arrears is unresolved and the club is struggling to operate— (quote)
Chinese Super League can’t be destroyed but can’t be built (theme)
Liu Bing, Workers’ Daily-China Industry Net reporter
Recently, the 2022 Chinese Super League season has finally come to an end after going through twists and turns. The “new king” was crowned without a fight, the “eight champions” were left with no choice but to relegate, the home and away return existed in name only, and the embarrassing performance of continuous abandonment… This season of the The Chinese Super League is special and difficult. Due to the operational difficulties of most clubs, the unresolved issue of salary arrears, and the constant rumors of retirement and disbandment, the future of the Chinese Super League still has a big question mark.
The competitive landscape is quietly changing
All matches in the 34th round of the Chinese Super League will end on December 31, 2022, and the 2022 Super League season will end. While Tianjin Jinmen Tigers and Beijing Guoan announced in advance that they would quit the game due to players’ health issues, the three Wuhan cities won without a fight and finally beat Shandong Taishan to win the Chinese Super League championship with 5 goals. difference.The championship was not a satisfactory way.Draw one point.
As this season’s “promoted horse”, Wuhan Three Towns achieved 25 wins, 3 draws and 6 losses in 34 league rounds. After winning the Chinese League B championship in 2020 and the Chinese League One championship in 2021, they have won their league’s championship trophy for three consecutive years. However, due to the fragmented schedule and the postponement or even cancellation of many games, the victory of the three cities of Wuhan is not very convincing.
With the victory of the three cities of Wuhan, the original competition pattern of the Chinese Super League has completely changed this season, and the four “promoted” teams all rank in the top 10 in the league table. In addition to the three cities of Wuhan, Zhejiang team won the third place, Chengdu Rongcheng and Meizhou Hakka ranked 5th and 9th respectively. This is in stark contrast to the situation where most of the “promoted” teams have been struggling on the brink of relegation for many years. The outstanding performance of the “promoted horses” made the outside world have higher expectations for Kunshan, Qingdao Manatee and Nantong Zhiyun to be promoted to the Super League next season.
The opposite of the brilliant performance of the “promoted” team is the desolation of the old giants. Among them, the most embarrassing thing for the fans is undoubtedly the former “eight champions” of Super League team Guangzhou, who only managed 3 wins, 8 draws and 23 losses this season and had no choice but to relegate . In the past 12 years, the Guangzhou team has won the AFC Champions League twice, including the AFC Champions League, Chinese Super League, Football Association Cup and Super Cup, a total of 17 championships, creating a ‘it was glorious. The relegation of former giants Guangzhou and Hebei marks the complete ebb of ‘Golden Dollar Football’.
What a “cold” word.
In the last three rounds of the Super League in the 2022 season, there were a total of 8 game abandonments due to various factors. Such a situation is very rare in the history of the Super League. Not only that, the overall functioning of the Chinese Super League this season is extremely unstable: the match did not start until June, and the entire schedule was fragmented. Since November, due to the “collision” between the schedule and the World Cup, the attention of social networks has continued to decline. Of course, the Chinese Super League has encountered unprecedented difficulties this season, which has made clubs, players, fans and the entire Chinese football community feel a great thrill.
What is even more worrying is that the problem of wage arrears that has afflicted Superlega clubs for years has not yet been resolved. According to the regulation of the Chinese Football Association, all clubs must settle all salary arrears by December 31, 2022, and submit the last vouchers by January 6 this year, otherwise they will be punished with relegation or disqualification for the new season.
In November last year, the Chinese Football Association twice punished three clubs, Hebei, Wuhan Changjiang and Shanghai Shenhua, for failing to repay wage arrears proportionately.
Why has the Chinese Super League wage arrears issue become a “big problem”? Chen Changhong, deputy secretary general of the Beijing Football Association, believes that the root cause is that most of the Chinese Super League clubs lack hematopoietic ability and cannot survive independently. “The previous ‘Golden Dollar Football’ caused a major bubble in the league and the club’s operating costs remained high. When clubs unable to make ends meet became the norm, many investors were disheartened and unable to sustain the predicament.”
It can be seen from this season’s Super League table that most of the best-performing teams are clubs with stable operations and no salary arrears. The relegation of teams like Guangzhou is inseparable from the deterioration of the club’s operating conditions.
The new season still has a long way to go
In August last year, after a gap of two and a half years, the Chinese Super League resumed the home and away system and opened the stadium to the public, which has become one of the few highlights of the league this season. After the match between Dalianers and Shanghai Seaport, clubs such as Wuhan Three Towns, Changchun Yatai and Chengdu Rongcheng all returned to their home games. Relevant data shows that in the 2022 season, the Chinese Super League will open spectators to 50 games, a total of nearly 290,000 spectators.
However, the tournament system in the past three years has greatly reduced the income of the Chinese Super League and various clubs. Since the vast majority of matches can only be played in empty stadiums, ticket revenue for events has dropped sharply, which has also dispelled the enthusiasm for various brand sponsorships. According to statistics, the total loss of the Chinese Super League football market in the past three seasons was nearly 900 million yuan, further worsening the situation of already struggling clubs.
Some people in the industry have suggested that in order to solve the current difficulties faced by the Chinese Super League, the first is to establish the Chinese Professional Football Club Federation as soon as possible to enhance the professionalism and stability of the management of the professional league. The second is to improve the financial supervision system to ensure the continuous and stable operation of the club. Before the start of the new season, the Chinese Football Association has made repeated inquiries on the issue of wage arrears, intending to force clubs to achieve basic security and reasonable financial operations.
The professional league is the cornerstone of the development of Chinese football. Only when clubs operate healthily can the Chinese Super League survive healthily, which in turn is related to the health of the “national brand” teams and the entire Chinese football environment. However, in recent years, there have been too many operational problems in the Chinese Super League, and the survival crisis generally faced by clubs is still severe. The Chinese Super League has reached a critical moment where it cannot be stopped. Let the professionals do professional things, let the club operations really get back on the market and let the league enter a virtuous circle… Can you see improvements in these in the 2023 season?
