After 30 years in the professional league, who is still dreaming of building a "century-old club"?
The year 2024 has special significance for Chinese football:
In 1994, Chinese football entered an era of professionalism;
In 2004, the Chinese Super League appeared on the stage of history;
2024 is the thirtieth year of the professionalization of Chinese football.
In the past 30 years, we have witnessed the national football team rushing out of Asia to the world, but now it is full of sighs of "thinking that it is the beginning, but the result is the peak"; we have witnessed the call of the wind and rain in Chinese football during the Jinyuan football period, and after the tide recedes, only the devastation remains; we have witnessed that the Evergrande Dynasty has won the Asian championship twice, and it cannot change the fact that the former king has retreated to the secondary league.
The main theme of Chinese professional football, perhaps like the history of suffering of the Chinese nation, is destined to be tragic.
1. "The Year of Establishment"
April 17, 1994, Chengdu Sports Center.
Wei Qun, the No. 3 player of Sichuan Quanxing team, stood in front of the penalty spot, ran and hit the goal, and the ball flew into the net from between the left post and the goalkeeper's finger. The first goal of the Chinese Football Professional League was born.
Thirty years later, in 2024, our football looks like this:
The Asian Cup was eliminated from the group with two draws and one loss, the world ranking hit a new low, and the national football team continued to refresh the lower limit of its record; Li Tie and Chen Xuyuan were imprisoned, and the anti-gang and anti-corruption storm in football has not subsided; Shandong Taishangui is the favorite to win the league championship, but it is also deeply mired in the mystery of capital disputes......
It was supposed to be a year to be commemorated, just as the K-League celebrated its 40th anniversary with a Hall of Fame, and the J-League's 30th anniversary. However, we are not sure whether we are on the right track, and the disgraced Chinese football can only carry out the bag in a low-key and humble manner.
As the saying goes, "stand at thirty".
Chinese professional football does not seem to be able to stand firm in its early years.
2. The moon or sixpence?
"Insist on building a first-class league and a century-old club in Asia. ”
Song Kai, chairman of the Chinese Football Association, said at the signing ceremony of the strategic cooperation between the Chinese Super League and Migu. However, only five clubs have been able to go so far with Chinese professional football: Shandong Taishan, Shanghai Shenhua, Beijing Guoan, Qingdao Manatee and Henan Team.
In the past 30 years, how many clubs have shouted to build a "century-old club" when the wind and water are rising, and how many clubs have been drowned in the tide of history with the tears of fans. Jiangsu Suning, Tianjin Tianhai, Guangzhou City......
In the past, the heroes from all walks of life with unlimited scenery have now become a youth that is difficult for anyone to recover?
The world's most commercially valuable professional sport has always been inseparable from money.
"Post-Jinyuan era" of Chinese professional football has been unable to withstand a big blow, even if the Chinese Football Association is no longer emphasizing the "four limits" on club funds, but it is obvious that the Chinese Super League clubs have been unable to take into account the reconstruction of the "moon" at the peak of the Chinese Super League, and the seriously tight surplus food in their hands makes them have to bow their heads to find the "sixpence" on the ground.
This has been evident in the recruitment of reinforcements in recent seasons. In recent years, the only foreign aid in the Chinese Super League has reached a transfer value of one million euros, and the only ones who are Shandong Taishan's Cressan (2 million euros) and Zeka (1.8 million euros). Whether it is foreign or domestic aid, the purpose of each club's recruitment is to save money.
After all, "living" is the last word.
3. Fans are the most precious treasure for Chinese football
"Glory and Legacy"
This is the slogan of the Shandong Taishan team.
It interprets the importance of geographical relations and blood relations, two consciousness deeply embedded in the blood of Chinese, for the formation and maintenance of Chinese fan groups.
Fighting for the same land, for the glory of the homeland, is originally blood-inducing, and it is an attribute that has been engraved in the bones of human beings since tribal times. And the belief of the fans inherited by blood relationship adds a tender and tragic light to this glory.
According to authoritative media statistics, the average number of clubs in the top three clubs in the 2023 Chinese Super League attendance list has exceeded 30,000. With the continuous birth of fan groups and the continuous improvement of stadium facilities, the increasingly popular Chinese ball market has become an inevitable trend.
Today, more and more Chinese are starting to walk into the football stadium in their hometown and cheer for the soldiers on the field. We have seen too many lovely and respectable fans, showing their youth and love on this beautiful green field.
You, me, each of us, are reclamation people in this football desert.
If someone smiles and asks you, "Do you still watch Chinese football?"
There is no need to answer him, this is just a rhetoric to cover up the desolation and uncontrollable inertia in the depths of the heart.
Go your own way, like Chinese football.