After losing to Vietnam in the World Preliminary Round, the Chinese men's football team has become more and more difficult. According to a number of media confirmations, the Chinese men's football team will start another salary cut this year, and the maximum salary of male football players will be reduced to 3 million yuan before tax, that is, less than 2 million yuan after tax. For the men's football team, which has long been embattled, this salary cut is tantamount to another fatal "critical blow".
This will be the third salary cut by the Chinese men's football team in three years. In 2019, the national football team lost to the Asian Cup, and then the Football Association immediately decided to cut salaries, limiting the maximum salary of local players in the Chinese Super League to 10 million yuan before tax (12 million before tax for players participating in the Asian Cup). A year later, the Football Association held another meeting to announce a salary cut, directly reducing the maximum salary of local players to 5 million yuan before tax. This time, the men's football team will usher in another salary cut, three years of "three consecutive drops", for those players who have not caught up with the Golden Age of the Chinese Super League, the "dream of getting rich" has been completely shattered.
It is understood that the background of this salary cut is the defeat of the national football team in Vietnam; and the force that promotes the salary cut may not even be the Chinese Football Association, but from a higher-level department. This also means that this salary cut will definitely have a profound impact on Chinese football.
From the perspective of social impact, the men's football team's salary cut is a response to the recent calls for "equal pay for equal work" for men's and women's football. After the salary cut to less than 2 million yuan after tax, the overall income of the men's football team will no longer have an overwhelming advantage over the women's football team. Taking Wang Shuang, the core of women's football, as an example, the annual salary is about 1 million yuan or more; and after the men's football team has a salary cut, even the top male football players will have an annual income of less than twice that of Wang Shuang.
This means that the vast majority of ordinary players who do not get the top salary or even "marginal internationals" are likely to have after-tax income figures that are infinitely close to or even lower than that of female footballers like Wang Shuang. In the history of the development of Chinese football, this scene is very rare. Even if the overall income level of men's football after the salary cut is still higher than that of women's football, the gap has become smaller and smaller, and the days when men's football and women's monthly salary of 3,000 are gone as in the past.
From the perspective of the development of the men's football team itself, the salary cut is likely to force more players to go abroad. At present, the "wind direction" of Chinese football is very obvious, that is, players stay in China, and there are fewer and fewer resources that can be grabbed. For many male football players with domestic first-line standards, the annual income in china is less than 2 million, in fact, there is not much difference from going abroad to develop, and choosing "staying in the west" can also get subsidies from the Football Association and the favor of more sponsors, so the road of "staying in the ocean" will certainly become more attractive than before.
Overall, the three salary cuts in three years are a "regurgitation" of the Chinese men's football team that has been poor and weak, and it can even be said to be "retribution", which is also an inevitable step for Chinese football to go to today. If the future performance of the men's football team is still not improved, perhaps the authorities will make more "amazing moves".