China's football world recently received another piece of significant news: Guangzhou FC, once the eight-time champion of the Chinese Super League (CSL), failed to repay its debts and did not pass the entry requirements for the new season's league. As a result, they will not participate in the 2025 professional league season, marking the end of the team's life.
As a pioneer of the "gold yuan" football in China, Guangzhou FC made headlines in earlier years with its extravagant investments. By investing heavily and attracting top domestic players and foreign talents, Guangzhou FC quickly rose to become a dominant force in the CSL. Between 2011 and 2019, the club won the CSL championship eight times. Liu Yongzhuo, the former director of the club, famously said, "The championship that Guangzhou FC wants, if I don't give it to you, you can't snatch it!" This statement became a classic among countless Guangzhou fans at the time.
Not only within China but also across Asia, Guangzhou FC's performance was impressive. Under the guidance of world-renowned coaches Marcello Lippi and Luiz Felipe Scolari, Guangzhou FC twice topped the AFC Champions League, becoming the first Chinese club to win the title after the competition's reform. At that time, Guangzhou FC was like a "big demon" in the AFC Champions League, even the champions from Japan and South Korea did not want to face them early on.
However, the era of big money spending eventually came to an end. After the parent company stopped funding, Guangzhou FC quickly collapsed. Foreign players left one by one, followed by national team players, and at the end of the 2022 season, Guangzhou FC was relegated to the second-tier league with the second-worst record, ending an era. Although they struggled for two more seasons in the second-tier league, due to excessive debt and lack of profitability, Guangzhou FC announced its dissolution before the start of the 2025 season, following Dalian Shide as another eight-time CSL champion to disappear from Chinese football.
After Guangzhou FC's dissolution, angry Guangzhou fans turned their anger towards national team player Wei Shihao. When the Chinese Football Association announced the first batch of qualified teams, Guangzhou FC was included, but Wei Shihao publicly questioned this outcome, posting on social media, "How did Guangzhou FC pass the entry?"
Now that Guangzhou FC has been forced to dissolve, many fans believe that Wei Shihao's remarks have put the team in a desperate situation, and he should be held fully responsible! Some fans commented, "One sentence brought down the old club, now the debt can never be recovered, are you satisfied?" Another fan wrote, "Wei Shihao used only nine words to destroy China's number one club, traitor!" There were also fans who said, "Debts must be repaid, but now the team is gone, the money can't be recovered, I wonder if Wei Shihao feels regretful?"