Champions’ demise haunts depleted Chinese Super League
SHANGHAI: China will atempt to move on from the collapse of champions Jiangsu FC when the new Super League season kicks off with a Guangzhou derby in front of about 30,000 fans on Tuesday.
China’s ambitions to be a superpower in the world’s most popular sport are under scrutiny ater Jiangsu’s financial demise, which came barely 100 days ater they had won their first domestic league title.
The Chinese Football Association and local media are atempting to put a positive spin on it, calling it an opportunity for the Super League to reset and embark on a more sustainable path ater the heady days of record-breaking spending in 2016 and 2017.
Jiangsu will not be there, but remain a haunting reminder of just how fragile is China’s football dream, which includes hosting and winning a World Cup.
“This is the most chaotic Super League season in 10 years,” journalist Fu Yayu wrote for Titan Sports on Monday.
“It has been messed up before the start, but a chaotic world is also a stage where heroes are born.”
The Chinese Super League (CSL) retains a degree of star power with 60-million-euro Brazilian Oscar and ageing internationals Marko Arnautovic, Marouane Fellaini, Mousa Dembele and Paulinho.
But there have again been no major signings in the transfer window, some foreigners have let and the CSL is no longer the atraction it was ater the Chinese Football Association (CFA) introduced a series of measures to cool spending, culminating in a salary cap.
Another controversy in an evenful close season saw most clubs forced to rebrand to satisfy the CFA’S “neutral-name” policy.
The governing body said that clubs could no longer bear the names of owners or sponsors in an effort to instil a deeper football culture.
Fabio Cannavaro’s Guangzhou Evergrande overnight became Guangzhou FC and Oscar’s Shanghai SIPG renamed themselves Shanghai Port.
China has drastically wrestled down coronavirus infections but the pandemic will still have a major impact.
The 16 CSL teams have been divided between two cities, Guangzhou and Suzhou, near Shanghai. Players will be kept away from the public in hotels.