Chinese Super League clubs move swiftly to allay fears of financial crisis after expulsion threat
Governing bodies are demanding unpaid salaries and debts be settled by August 31 as teams attempt to prove they are solvent
A reported crisis concerning unpaid salaries and bonuses that was set to threaten next season’s Chinese Super League appears to have been overexaggerated with leading sides Shanghai Shenhua and Shanghai SIPG among those playing down the story in British media.
News emerged on Tuesday that 13 of the 16 Super League sides “could be forced to forfeit their participation in the competition next season after failing to pay their players properly” and had until August 15 to resolve the problem with the Chinese Football Association (CFA) or be “denied entry to the league”, according to the Mirror.
But despite the reports suggesting only minnows Yanbian Funde, Henan Jianye and Guizhou Zhicheng were in the clear, Beijing Guoan and Shandong Luneng joined Shenhua and SIPG in allaying fears over the 2018 Super League season.
“After verification, we’ve already paid the arrears in full in October last year and we’ve sent the related certificates to CFA. We hereby certify that our club doesn’t have any arrears problem,” said SIPG, who have the likes of Brazilian duo Oscar and Hulk in their ranks.
Shenhua, who signed Argentine Carlos Tevez in a high-profile move at the start of the 2017 season, admitted they may have some issues with outstanding payments to the previous clubs of their players but insisted any issues were not related to salaries and bonuses.
