2017 AFC Champions League quarter-round penalty shootout, Evergrande was eliminated.
Latest situation: The epidemic has caused conflicts in the schedules of the Chinese Super League and the Asian Champions League. The Chinese Super League BIG4 is likely to decide not to send the main lineup abroad to participate in the 2021 Asian Champions League group stage.
I have always believed that the Chinese Super League is much more important than the AFC Champions League, which is based on the significance of the event itself to shaping Chinese football culture. But I am also worried that the Chinese Super League will become more and more "disgusted" with the AFC Champions League in the future and form an ostrich mentality. This has nothing to do with the epidemic. The epidemic is just going with the flow.
Before Evergrande increases the outside world's attention to the AFC Champions League, the presence of the AFC Champions League needs to be discounted. Guoan has no results in Asia, Shenhua has no results in Asia, and Luneng's defeat in Asia does not prevent them from becoming a wealthy family in China, and they feel good.
In 2009, the AFC Champions League expanded to 32 teams to participate, and 4 Chinese Super League teams participated in the group stage, but all the teams were eliminated. The Chinese Super League teams were not competitive at that time, and the outside world's expectations were very low.
2010 season, Guoan entered the AFC Champions League as the Chinese Super League champion. Li Xiaoming, then general manager of Guoan, told the media: "In modern football, international exchanges and competition with foreign clubs is a very good way to improve image and brand. As the capital team, Guoan should go out and actively participate in this international exchange."
This polite words tactfully express the attitude of the capital's giants towards the AFC Champions League. Not considered a desperate fight. It sounds like the AFC Champions League is a cultural exchange activity. Guoan's game bonus plan at that time directly explained the importance of the severity: the Chinese Super League win prize was 600,000 at home and 700,000 away games, and the AFC win prize was only 400,000 at home and away games.
"Striving for the AFC Champions League qualification" is the team's season goal, and it was not popular in the Chinese Super League at that time.
Before Evergrande entered the Asian arena, the group match that I remembered the most: Tianjin TEDA defeated Osaka Gangba 2-1 at home in Tanggu. Chen Tao's long shot ignited the home atmosphere, and you could feel the enthusiasm in the stands through the TV screen.
Chen Tao's long shot is impressive.
That was the mid-week game, and Tianjin people filled the suburbs with courts. If you watch the photos and videos of that game again, you will feel that the cold air of the stadium is full of the affectionate concerns of Tianjin people for the home team, just like the nightclub you watch on TV at Kiev or Belgrade Red Stars' Champions League matches.
but not every game.
In the first round of the group stage that year, TEDA won Jeju United away, ending the embarrassment of the Chinese Super League team losing to the Korean team in the AFC Champions League 11 consecutive times (it is normal to lose like this, without enthusiasm). This "historic" victory laid the foundation for the atmosphere of the TEDA Stadium in the second round of the group stage. After all, you will only have attention if you win.
Not every team can play in the AFC Champions League frequently. TEDA, which qualifies for early in the group stage, has faced a headache for Jeonbuk Hyundai. The following year, TEDA played again as the FA Cup champion, and was eliminated in the group stage with 3 draws and 3 losses, and has never played in Asian competitions since then.
In the same season, Liaoning Football Team, which could have participated in the AFC Champions League qualifiers, voluntarily gave up its qualification and was ridiculed as "Liao Paopu". Although it is a bit incredible, it fully shows that the civilian club does not yearn for the AFC Champions League and does not regard participating in the AFC Champions League as an honor.
The AFC Champions League history is not long and its appeal is not strong, which is too normal.
AFC Champions League is not equivalent to the Liberators Cup for Asia or the Champions League for Europe. Putting aside the accumulation of football history, Europa and South America are each more like a cultural community, but Asia is not. East and West Asia have completely different cultures, with huge political and economic differences, and lack the soil to form a strong event IP that is commonly recognized. Japanese and Korean teams often send substitutes to play away games for the AFC Champions League without locking in the group qualifying, making the game look awkward. This won't happen in the Champions League and the Copa Libertadores.
Liaoning Football Team finally returned to the Asian arena, but gave up.
To a certain extent, Evergrande has indeed aroused the enthusiasm of Chinese Super League fans for the AFC Champions League. That 5-1 game in Jeonbuk was a watershed, and the Chinese Super League suddenly entered the AFC Champions League era.The AFC Champions League prizes offered by Xu Jiayin stimulated the team's desire to compete in Asia.
Do you think this kind of emotion is false? Not false. The AFC Champions League is a competition between experts, and the technical content is much higher than that of the Chinese Super League. Zhang Linpeng was interviewed in the latest interview and talked about the most fulfilling thing in 10 years, not the Chinese Super League champion, but the Asian champion in 2013. Fans always want to appreciate high-level competitions, which is also the reason why ticket prices for the 2013 AFC Champions League can be priced at a high price.
After Evergrande won the AFC Champions League in 2013, it claimed to be the first Asian champion in the history of Chinese professional clubs. The Liaoning team, who gave up their qualification to participate in the AFC Champions League a year ago, was dissatisfied. Their history of winning the Asian Club Cup for the first time in the late 1980s (the predecessor of the AFC Champions League) was stir-fried to show historical glory. It was a bit embarrassing to hear that the precious Asian Club Cup trophy fell in which corner.
When Evergrande is dominant, the season goal of other strong teams is not to compete for the Chinese Super League championship, but to compete for the AFC Champions League qualification. Compared with 10 years ago, the AFC Champions League tastes different, it is a hierarchy issue. Let’s put it this way: In the past, the Chinese Super League teams had poor performance and were not enough to talk about the value of the AFC Champions League. In recent years, the Chinese Super League teams have spent a lot of money to buy the best foreign players and have worked hard, but their results are still not very good, so they feel the value of the AFC Champions League.
2017 AFC Champions League semi-finals are the ceiling of the history of the Harbour team.
Guoan has been Evergrande’s main competitor in the Chinese Super League in the past 10 years, but they have only reached the quarterfinals of the AFC Champions League once. Shanghai Wharf has the largest foreign aid in Asia in recent years, and has reached the semi-finals of the AFC Champions League in just one time. After experiencing these, Chinese football is no longer qualified to say that "the Asian Championship is actually not important."
The problem lies in your future mentality, don’t be an ostrich.
As investment is greatly compressed, big-name foreign players are retreating, and the domestic player level is in a long trough. It can be expected that the competitiveness of Chinese Super League teams in the Asian arena will return to what they were 10 years ago, or even worse. But you must not learn from the Liaoning team. The AFC Champions League is not a castle in the air, but a real tall building.
But then again, if the AFC Champions League is a high-rise building, the Chinese Super League is the foundation. The foundation is not stable now, and it is normal that I don’t have that much thought about the tall buildings.
