The Chinese football club Wuhan has announced that it will cease operations, and this decision was made only two months after the club was punished by deducting points for unpaid wages to players.
They finished 16th out of 18 teams in the 2022 season, which ended in December, and said in a statement that it will not register to play in China’s second division in the 2023 season.
“The club represents the city of Wuhan in the central Chinese province of Hubei, and has been competing in the Chinese professional leagues for 11 years,” the announcement states.
The club promised to settle all obligations towards the club’s employees.
Zal Group, a real estate company, took control of Wuhan in late 2011 and has reportedly invested about $440 million in the club.
Wuhan is not the only Chinese club to struggle in recent times, after the country’s top league rose to global prominence in the previous decade as teams splashed out huge sums of money to hire big-name foreign players and coaches in a bid to develop the sport.
During the 2022 season, three teams in China’s first league, including Wuhan, and five in China’s second league were penalized with points deducted for not paying players.
