On August 6, the 13th round of the Central League was in full swing, with Xinjiang Tianshan Snow Leopard and Kunshan battling it out. Although it was rumored that Xinjiang Tianshan Snow Leopard would withdraw from the match, the team appeared on the field as promised. However, due to the penalty imposed by the CFA, 14 players from Xinjiang Tianshan Snow Leopard were unable to participate in the match, and they faced the match with a broken team, but lost 1-5.
On the eve of the match, Xinjiang Tianshan Snow Leopard released a poster titled "Work Together, Rise to the Challenge", revealing the team's plight to fans. The club said the team faced a tough challenge as 14 players will miss the current round of matches due to their inability to pay the CFA's arbitration fees and fines, but they chose to go forward and fight for Xinjiang.
The penalties stemmed from four salary disputes in Xinjiang Tianshan Snow Leopard's 2020 season. Three players and a staff member filed an arbitration case with the CFA over salary and contract issues, and the club ultimately refused to implement the arbitration results, leading to additional fines from the CFA.
The management of Xinjiang Tianshan Snow Leopard said, "It is not wrong for the CFA to protect the interests of players, but it must remain fair, otherwise it is unacceptable. The amount of fine imposed by the CFA is too high for us to bear."
In the match against Kunshan, Xinjiang Tianshan Snow Leopard had only 15 players on the starting list and 4 on the bench, including two strikers and two defenders. The other team took the lead in the 15th minute of the game, but Xinjiang Tianshan Snow Leopard didn't give up and equalized a goal after falling behind by 0-3, but still lost by 1-5 in the end.
Admirably, No. 17 player Huang Wenzhuo, whose grandmother passed away before the game, endured his grief to play the whole game and took leave to go home for mourning after the game. In the next round of matches, Xinjiang Tianshan Snow Leopard's playing list will be reduced by one person again, and it is still unknown whether the team can put together an 11-member starting lineup and whether the club can hold on to it.
Although Xinjiang Tianshan Snow Leopard has said that matches will continue as long as the club is not disbanded, the survival dilemma has been plaguing the only professional soccer club in Xinjiang. In recent years, the Junta Group has been affected by both the epidemic and the real estate market, and has been unable to support the club's investment.
Xinjiang Tianshan Snow Leopard has been playing in the Chinese League for nine consecutive years, and despite being relegated three times, all three times were due to the disbandment of other teams and the return of the replacement. As the main investor, Juntai Group, affected by the epidemic, has not been able to support the club's investment, had considered withdrawing from the professional league, but ultimately chose to continue to fight.
In order to survive, Xinjiang Tianshan Snow Leopard had to compress the budget over and over again, although a full salary reduction, but the wages of players and coaches are basically paid on time. The club's deputy general manager Zhang Fujun said, Xinjiang Tianshan Snow Leopard has never been a large-scale salary arrears phenomenon.
Despite the lack of financial resources of the Junta Group, it has repeatedly sought support from the local government to promote the club's equity diversification reform and mixed ownership reform, but so far there has been no substantial progress.
