January 30 News After Ronaldo joined the Saudi League Riyadh Victory with a sky-high contract, Reuters published an article commenting that
, This is another sign of the decline of Chinese football.
Over the past decade, the Chinese Super League has been attracting more and more top stars and coaches to China as money has poured in.
In 2016, Shanghai Seaport signed Brazilian double stars Oscar and Hulk for 130 million euros.
Soon after, Tevez joined Shanghai Shenhua with a weekly salary of 600,000 pounds.
At that time, the names of Ronaldo and Messi were both associated with the Super League club, and people were not surprised by this.
After Ronaldo’s agent Mendes was photographed with the owner of the Chinese Super League club, there were rumors that Tianjin Quanjian might become Ronaldo’s future destination.
In five years, however, things have changed dramatically.
Tianjin Quanjian was one of the first Chinese Super League clubs to be disbanded due to financial and legal issues, with Wuhan Changjiang this week the latest.
The downturn in Chinese football has hardly spared any clubs.
Jiangsu Suning, owned by China’s leading domestic sales group, disbanded in early 2021, a few months after winning the Chinese Super League title for the first time.
Two-time AFC Champions Guangzhou FC, once the backbone of Chinese football, began to decline after its owner, Evergrande Group, fell into trouble.
The epidemic has brought greater challenges to Chinese clubs.
The talents of the Chinese Super League have been lost to the Saudi Professional League. The main scorers of the Saudi Professional League-Taliska of Riyadh Victory, Hamed of Jeddah United, and Ighalo of Riyadh Crescent have all played in the Super League.
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Saudi Arabia will also host the 2027 Asian Cup and will also bid to host the 2026 Women’s Asian Cup.
Prior to this, China was forced to give up the right to host the 2023 Asian Cup last year.
Although China has now reopened, Chinese football has suffered major losses.
Now, with the focus on Saudi Arabia’s vast oil wealth, the luster of Chinese football has all but faded.
(Driesen)