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BEIJING: Chinese football was disrupted on Sunday when the owners of reigning Chinese Super League champion Jiangsu FC announced that the club would cease operations with immediate effect.
A post on Jiangsu’s official WeChat account expressed hope for new sponsors or that a “knowledge company” would be willing to consult on the future of the team.
The announcement said that all soccer clubs owned by Suning Group, including the hugely successful Jiangsu Suning Women, would “cease operations as of today.”
The Nanjing-based retailer, one of China’s largest and which also owns Italian Serie A club Inter Milan, said in early February that it intended to focus on core businesses, leaving in risk non-retail assets.
These assets include Jiangsu FC, which won the Chinese Super League title in November for the first time with a playoff victory over eight-time champion Guangzhou Evergrande.
That victory was the pinnacle of a once-cashed club career previously coached by former England manager Fabio Capello, and who in the summer of 2019 attempted to sign Gareth Bale, previously the world’s most expensive player, from Real Madrid.
The team that clinched the title and a spot in this year’s Asian Champions League featured Brazilian winger Alex Teixeira, who decided to trade 50 million euros ($ 60.37 million) to Jiangsu in 2016 due to interest from the Liverpool of the Premier League.
When Teixeira refused to sign a new contract at the end of last season and it was reported that coach Cosmin Olaroiu was unlikely to return to the club, questions began to arise about Jiangsu’s financial future and the impact on soccer in China.
Jiangsu’s announcement comes days after the Asian Football Confederation confirmed its expulsion from the Asian Champions League, Shandong Luneng, due to “overdue payments.”
If Jiangsu cannot find new owners soon, his absence could cause further disruption in the Asian Champions League before the start of the continental competition in April.
Retailer Suning.com, which is also part of the Suning Group, said Thursday that shareholders plan to sell 20 to 25 percent of the company to unidentified buyers, which could lead to a change of control as their parent seeks to raise cash.
(US $ 1 = 0.8282 euros)
(Reporting by Gabriel Crossley; Additional reporting by Michael Church and Pei Li; Edited by Christopher Cushing)
