On April 27, a Chinese Second Division team, Shanxi Longjin, received great attention. The reason is that this morning the team officially issued a "announcement of withdrawal from the professional league".
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In the announcement, it was written that Shanxi Longjin Football Club had previously used the 3 million yuan in the account to pay the salaries of players, and there was no wage arrears in the team; however, due to the epidemic, the club's capital turnover was problematic, and it was impossible to pay the "security deposit" within the specified time.
The predecessor of Shanxi Longjin is Hebei Xinyou, which was founded in the 2016 season, originally registered in Cangzhou City, Hebei Province, moved to Shanxi at the end of 2017, established Shanxi Xindu Football Club, and changed its name to Shanxi Longjin in 2020.
In the 2021 season, Shanxi Longjin entered the First Division of the Chinese Second League and eventually finished 6th. In a trial training announcement released by Shanxi Longjin in January this year, it also expressed the team's goal of completing the first division within three years.
On April 3, the Chinese Football Association issued the "Notice related to the 2022 Season of the Chinese Super League, The Chinese First Division, and the Chinese Second Division", and the names of the third-tier leagues that passed the admission review were prominently listed.
However, the notice also reads: "All clubs participating in the China League B shall remit the amount of the deposit to the special account designated by the Chinese Football Association within ten working days after receiving this notice." If a club fails to pay the deposit in full and on time, the club will automatically lose its eligibility to register for the 2022 Season B. ”
(The content of the April 2 Chinese Football Association Football Character [2022] No. 121 document disclosed by the relevant media)
Shanxi Jinlong, which was not able to pay the 600,000 yuan deposit on time and in full, ultimately failed to appear in the access list of the "Notice of the Chinese Football Association on Announcing the List of Clubs Participating in Professional Leagues at All Levels in the 2022 Season" issued by the Chinese Football Association on April 25.
The latest list of 18 Chinese Super League teams has not changed compared to the one released on April 3. Among the Chinese League A teams, Qingdao team withdrew, and the former Chinese Second Division teams Beijing Polytechnic and Xinjiang Tianshan Snow Leopards were promoted to the Chinese First Division.
In the entry list of the three-tier league, the list of Chinese B teams has changed more, and xiamen Ludao, the fifth place in the second division, and The sixth place in the second division, Shanxi Longjin, have withdrawn from the league last season. The 10th Hebei Zhuo'ao, the 14th Xi'an Junwolf, and the 18th Kunming Zheng he boatman were also not allowed. Among the 3 teams that have been relegated, Shaoxing Keqiao Yuejia and Shaanxi Warriors have given up the re-entry, and only Quanzhou Yaxin has returned to the central second division. Originally outside the promotion zone, the 7th place in the central crown Shaoxing Shangyu Wing Dragon and the 8th place Zhuhai Qin'ao have also been qualified for the relegation. Zibo Qisheng, who previously lost the promotion play-off, also made up for the promotion.
(Notice of the Chinese Football Association on Announcing the List of Clubs Participating in Professional Leagues at All Levels in the 2022 Season published on the official website of the Chinese Football Association on April 25, 2022)
Together with the previous withdrawal of the Guizhou team of the Chinese First Division and the Sichuan Minzu Football Team of the Chinese Second Division, at least 10 professional teams have withdrawn from the current Chinese Professional Football Third Division. There are also many familiar teams in these 10 teams, and it is really regrettable that they have left now.
However, in the cold winter of Chinese professional football in recent seasons, some teams have withdrawn, in addition to feeling sighing and unwilling, they are also a bit "numb"... The reason why Shanxi Longjin's withdrawal has attracted so much attention is because they mentioned in the announcement that "the club does not owe wages, but only withdraws due to the lack of 600,000 deposits".
As we all know, the most concerned about the team's access review every season is the "salary and bonus confirmation form", which allows all the staff of the club to confirm the receipt of salary bonuses, which is also a hard threshold for the league access review. In the past few seasons, there have also been cases where clubs have "white striped" players in order to complete this "salary and bonus confirmation form", and even suspected of impersonating signatures.
(February 4, 2020 The official website of the Chinese Football Association released: Notice on the publicity of the submission of the "2019 Club Full Payment of Coaches, Athletes and Staff Salary bonus confirmation form" for the clubs of the Chinese First Division, the Chinese Second Division and the Chinese Champions League, including the salary and bonus confirmation form of Liaoning Football Club)
This season, due to the problem of wage arrears in most Chinese Super League clubs, the Football Association "compromised" on the issue of "salary and bonus confirmation table". We previously tweeted "Year after year, is the FA's policy useful?" It is also mentioned that the Chinese Football Association has specially formulated a "solution" in stages and batches to ensure that the league in the new season can start smoothly first.
The issue of "unpaid wages" was shelved, but for the Chinese Second Division team, the "security deposit" became the new "bottom line".
The need to pay a deposit for Chinese B teams is not a new policy, there are relevant policies very early, in the 2019 season, the Chinese Football Association issued the "Chinese Football Association B League Margin Management Measures", according to this document, the Chinese B team needs to pay a deposit of 1.5 million yuan to the special account of the Football Association before the start of the league, otherwise it will be disqualified. In the absence of unpaid wages and other fees, the deposit will be returned to the club without interest at the end of the league.
(February 22, 2019, the official website of the Chinese Football Association released: Notice on printing and distributing the "Measures for the Administration of the Margin of the Second Division League of the Chinese Football Association")
However, due to the past two seasons, due to the impact of the epidemic and the difficult situation of various clubs, the "security deposit" system was not implemented in the Chinese Second League last season. According to media reports, because of the failure to implement the "security deposit" system, some clubs have long-term arrears in the reception fees of the competition area, which has damaged the interests of all parties and affected the image of the league. This season, the "China B margin system" was restored, and at the same time, the Various Central B clubs were given sufficient time to raise funds in advance.
There is a system in advance, and at the same time, it is understandable that Shanxi Longjin has been blocked from the entrance qualifications, but has the local FOOTBALL association really helped the team solve this seemingly difficult problem? If we want to blame the Football Association, should we first ask the Shanxi Football Association whether it has ever reached out to the local professional football clubs on this already fertile football soil?