On March 1, Beijing time, the AFC officially announced that Changchun Yatai withdrew from this season's AFC Champions League qualification round, which means that Yatai completely gave up this year's intercontinental journey. For the Chinese Super League, which has already suffered a blow on the continental stage, the move could trigger a new round of chaos in the future.
Changchun Yatai's decision to withdraw from the competition was not a surprising choice. According to the schedule, Yatai will play against the play-off opponents on March 15, but due to the current entry situation of the mainland, the match will be played in a third country, but this is bound to seriously affect the team's pre-season preparation for the Chinese Super League. Even if they enter the group stage, they will be forced to send second-team teams to compete because of the high overlap between the AFC Champions League and the Chinese Super League schedule this season.
What's more, the situation of the Beijing Guoan Second Team stranded overseas last year is still vivid, so giving up the AFC Champions League is a burden for Yatai.
In fact, as early as before Yatai withdrew, some domestic media believed that considering the current situation, the "AFC Champions League Final Four" of the Chinese Super League were all withdrawn, which was a relatively safe choice. Now, Yatai has taken the lead in making a choice, will the remaining Shandong Taishan, Shanghai Haigang and Guangzhou teams also retire with it? Even if it does, it's understandable.
However, once Shandong, SIPG and Guangzhou all withdraw, there will be at least two vicious chain reactions: First, the four teams in the Chinese Super League will be "completely destroyed" in the AFC Champions League this season, which will greatly affect the technical score statistics of the Chinese Super League in the AFC. At present, the technical score of the Chinese Super League has fallen to the tenth place in Asia and the fourth place in East Asia, and the collective withdrawal means that the technical score of the Chinese Super League will be "0" this season, and the ranking is very likely to further decline.
Second, according to the regulations of the AFC, teams such as Shandong, SIPG and Guangzhou, which have already completed the group draw, if they choose to withdraw temporarily, will be fined for the next two years not to participate in intercontinental competitions. Although the reason for "force majeure withdrawal" can be used to avoid punishment, the specific result depends on the determination of the AFC, if the AFC does not recognize the "force majeure", it means that all three teams will be deprived of AFC Champions League qualification in the future. This will deal a huge blow to the image of Chinese football in Asia.