The Chinese Super League has been postponed due to the rapidly spreading coronavirus, the Chinese Football Association (CFA) announced. This may lead to a mass exodus of top players, including Marouane Fellaini, Yaya Toure, and Moussa Dembele.
Uknown starting date for the Chinese Super League
The start of the season in the Chinese Super League was supposed to be on February 22, however, for the moment being the CFA cannot schedule an exact date for the start of the competition because of the situation with the coronavirus outbreak.
This situation may lead to the departure of many star players currently playing in China. A number of high-profile players in China like Marouane Fellaini, Yaya Toure, Graziano Pelle, Marko Arnautovic, Salomon Rondon, Hulk, Oscar, and Moussa Dembele could all seek new clubs in the upcoming days before the end of the January transfer window.
At this stage, it’s uncertain whether the league will start at all and some players may want to move for game time, while the clubs in China may want to offload players with big salaries. There’s also the possibility for such players to seek short-term deals at other clubs, while the situation in China gets clearer.
“The Chinese Football Association will continue to maintain close communication with national authorities …and make reasonable adjustments to the organization, schedule, and scale of matches where necessary,” the CFA stated.
Chinese women’s soccer team quarantined in a Brisbane
The Chinese women’s soccer team is currently quarantined in a hotel in Brisbane, having traveled to Australia to play in an Olympic qualifying tournament. The Olympic tournament was originally supposed to be held in Wuhan where the virus is believed to have originated. It was later switched to Nanjing before later transferred out from China to Sydney, as a whole.
Late on Wednesday, the World Athletics Indoor Championships, scheduled to take place in Nanjing in March, was postponed until 2021 over fears related to the coronavirus outbreak, the sport’s governing body said.