The Chinese Super League side who were famous for signing Premier League stars on high wages – Guangzhou Evergrande – can’t play football anymore
Guangzhou Evergrande – the Chinese Super League side who signed some of the sports biggest stars – are now not allowed to play professional football.
The giants of Chinese football will not be able to play professionally next season. Despite being the most successful side in China with two AFC Champions league and eight Chinese Super League titles, failure to pay off mountains of debt has made the Chinese FA put a stop to their play.
The CSL was the precursor to the Saudi Pro League. Big stars would move their for big wages. Chelsea‘s Oscar infamously moved to Shanghai Port from Chelsea to earn around £377k a week.
But Guangzhou had some of their own Premier League stars.
The former Manchester City striker Robinho went to Guangzhou for six months. In his short time there he won the CSL. He also teamed up with fellow Brazilian and former Tottenham player Paulinho.
Other well known players who joined the Chinese side were Jackson Martinez who moved from Atletico Madrid for £37m. Brazilian international Ricardo Goulart scored 110 goals for Guangzhou in 174 appearances when he went for £13m.
What has so far separated the CSL to the Saudi Pro League is the fact that the quality of football was apparent and attendances were consistent.
A player like Paulinho ended up being sold from Guangzhou to Barcelona for £33.5m after a series of title winnings seasons and good performances in China. Something like this is yet to be seen from Saudi.
It all looked like glamour and glitz, which it was, until the Chinese FA introduced a ‘luxury tax’ that made these big-money transfer deals more expensive. This was followed by a salary cap being introduced.
And to top it all off, sponsors were not allowed to name their teams. This meant Guangzhou Evergrande changed to Guangzhou FC.
The club was already struggling with finances at this point. In 2021, they defaulted on debt payments as China was experiencing a real estate crisis which was enlarged due to covid.
One year later in 2022, the club officially declared bankruptcy. Players were sold, plans for a 100,000 seater stadium were scrapped. Incase they weren’t already in distress, they were relegated that year too.
Now, after failing to secure promotion for 2024, they have not been granted permission to compete in the upcoming season due to their financial crisis.
The club released a statement that read: “We regret that we failed to make it, hence our sincerest apologies to fans and the people from all walks of life that support the club.”
“We will not change our original intention and do our best to deal with the aftermath and support the development of Chinese football and Guangdong and Guangzhou football.”