From boom to collapse as Chinese football faces "dark winter"

A Chinese Super League club is on the verge of bankruptcy and a dozen lower-level teams have already collapsed, indicating that the problems faced by football in China are much deeper than the current coronavirus suspension .

All football in China is on hold indefinitely in the face of the deadly virus, but even before the closure, a chain of clubs has folded in recent weeks and several others are in grave danger.

We are far from the lavish expenses of 2016 and 2017 when the clubs of the Chinese Super League, encouraged by the ambitions of President Xi Jinping to make China a force in the sport, have repeatedly broken the record of Asian transfer.

Tianjin Quanjian was typical of the generosity that saw CSL make the headlines by attracting coaches and foreign players with high salaries.

But now, a few years later, the club goes on sale for free, although it is heavily in debt.

The virtual disappearance of the northeastern Chinese team has prompted introspection on the state of sport in the country and suggestions for the bursting of the "football bubble".

Funded by a traditional Chinese medicine company, Tianjin finished third in CSL in 2017 under the guidance of coach Fabio Cannavaro, the winning captain of the Italian World Cup.

They boasted Brazilian international Alexandre Pato in attack, had Belgian Axel Witsel 20 million euros in the midfield and were closely linked to Chelsea striker Diego Costa.

But when the founder of the Quanjian group was arrested for pyramid selling and false advertising in January of last year, the club was handed over to the local sports office.

Thirteen players have left since the end of last season when Tianjin – renamed Tianjin Tianhai – escaped relegation by four points.

"Its business model is typical of many CSL clubs – heavily dependent on owners' investment and unable to generate significant income through marketing or endorsements in the same way as elite European clubs", a said the China Daily, calling it "dark." winter".

– Quick profit –

When the Communist government declared in 2016 that it wanted China to be a "first-class" football nation by 2050, it is unlikely that President football fan Xi will consider clubs as bowling.

But including Tianjin, at least 15 teams in the first three levels have been disbanded, face financial ruin, or will not participate in the new season, said Chinese sports writer William Bi.

Teams from China League One and League Two – the second and third divisions – lost an average of 20 million yuan ($ 2.9 million) in 2018, according to state media.

Liaoning Hongyun in League One is still afloat, but captain Sang Yifei said on Weibo on Twitter that players were not paid for the entire 2019 season.

When League One's Guangdong Southern Tigers folded last month, its deputy general manager Wang Qian said that too many club owners were looking for a quick profit.

"How did foreign clubs develop? They started with a field, a coach and training for young people. Feeding the players ultimately generates income and then they can train teams, starting with low-level leagues, "he told media.

"But many Chinese bosses immediately bought a first-level team and then invested in training young people.

"Before youth training works, the first-level team may already have collapsed."

– "No culture of football" –

The Chinese Football Association has put in place measures, including a salary cap for domestic and foreign players, to limit spending.

Worried about a glut of players suddenly out of work, he will offer free lessons to convert them into coaches at the local level.

Bi said the investors got into soccer in line with the government's ambitions in the sport, but quickly found that there was little profit to be made.

A slowdown in the world's second largest economy makes money for clubs even less attractive, he said.

Bi said that even if teams lose money in established markets like England, "in China, there is no culture of football."

"This is the basic problem of Chinese football," he said.

"The survival of grassroots football requires love and passion (for sport), which the Chinese lack.

"Football is not a form of entertainment for most Chinese.

"And without fans, what is the point of investment for a hopeless team in the lower league?"