【Epoch Times News on January 7, 2025】On January 6, Guangzhou Football Club Co., Ltd. (Guangzhou Team) announced that due to financial difficulties, the team could no longer participate in the Chinese professional football league. Guangzhou Team officially disbanded, sparking a trend on Baidu’s top searches on January 7.
In the afternoon of January 6, the Chinese Football Association issued a statement officially announcing the list of clubs admitted to the 2025 season of the professional league. The list consisted of 49 clubs, excluding the Chinese Super League’s Cangzhou Xiongshi, the Chinese League One’s Guangzhou Team, and the Chinese League Two’s Hunan Xiangtao.
Just six hours after the Chinese Football Association released the list, Guangzhou Team issued an announcement declaring its dissolution. The announcement cited the burden of historical debts and insufficient funds raised to repay them, stating efforts would be made to properly handle post-dissolution matters.
Public records show that the predecessor of Guangzhou Football Club was the Guangzhou City football team established in June 1954. In January 1993, the Guangzhou City football team collaborated with Sunray Cave Group to become the first professional football club in China jointly owned by the government and a corporation. On March 1, 2010, it was renamed Guangzhou Evergrande Football Club, winning the Asian Football Club Championship in 2013, and was renamed Guangzhou Football Club in January 2021.
Guangzhou Team has won eight Chinese Super League championships, four Chinese Football Association Super Cup titles, two Chinese Football Association Cup titles, two Asian Champions League titles, and two Chinese Football Association League One titles.
Following the dissolution of Guangzhou Team, Cangzhou Xiongshi and Hunan Xiangtao also announced their dissolution due to financial issues. While these two teams may not have the same legacy as Guangzhou Team, they have been part of the league for over a decade.
In response, mainland Chinese media figure “Blue Jade” wrote on January 7, “The dissolution of three professional football clubs in a day is a huge disgrace for Chinese football. The health of the league is closely related to the strength of the national team, and the current state of Chinese football is closely linked to league issues.”
Corruption is rampant in the Chinese football industry, with multiple Chinese Football Association officials sentenced in December 2024. On December 11, the former vice head of the Chinese Football Association’s transition committee and former secretary-general, Liu Yi, was sentenced to 11 years in prison for bribery. On the same day, Tan Hai, former head of the Referee Management Department, and Qi Jun, former head of the Strategic Planning Department of the Chinese Football Association, were sentenced to 6 years and 6 months and 7 years of imprisonment, respectively.
On December 13, Li Tie, the former head coach of the Chinese national men’s football team, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for accepting over 50 million RMB in bribes for various offenses related to bribery.
According to Chinese prominent figure “I Love the English Premier League” on January 6, there were 16 teams in the Chinese Super League in the 2020 season, but now only six teams remain. Even before the start of the last season, Jiangsu FC, Shenzhen Jiazhaoye, Guangzhou City, Dalian Ren, Chongqing Dangdai, Hebei China Fortune, and Wuhan Zall announced their dissolution. Jiangsu FC dissolved after making history by winning the Chinese Super League last season.