Former Asian champions Guangzhou FC will not play professionally in 2025 after the Chinese Football Association did not grant the eight-time Chinese Super League (CSL) winners permission to play in the coming campaign due to the club's financial issues.
Guangzhou, once the dominant force in the country and the standard bearers of a decade of heavy spending in Chinese football, are one of three teams, including CSL outfit Cangzhou Mighty Lions and third-tier Hunan Xiangtao, ruled ineligible.
"The club has made a lot of efforts to gain admission to the professional league in the new season, however, due to the heavy historical debt, the funds raised are not enough," Guangzhou said in a statement.
"We regret that we failed to make it, hence our sincerest apologies to fans and the people from all walks of life that support the club.
"At the same time, thank you for your understanding and tolerance. We will not change our original intention and do our best to deal with the aftermath and support the development of Chinese football and Guangdong and Guangzhou football."
The decision to exclude Guangzhou brings a final curtain down on an era of lavish spending within Chinese football.
Property developers China Evergrande purchased the club after relegation to China's second tier in 2010 and invested heavily, paying inflated transfer fees and high wages to attract the country's leading players and high-profile overseas talent.
That move sparked a major boom in the CSL as private business sought to deliver president Xi Jinping's dream to turn the nation into a regional power with the goal of qualifying for, hosting and, eventually, winning the FIFA World Cup.
As a sign of the club's ambition, Guangzhou hired World Cup-winning coach Marcello Lippi in 2012 and the Italian led his team to the 2013 AFC Champions League title.
Two years later another World Cup winner, Brazil's Luiz Felipe Scolari, repeated the feat while continuing Guangzhou's domestic dominance as the club went on to win eight CSL titles in nine seasons from 2011 to 2019.
China Evergrande's financial issues, however, saw funding withdrawn from the club in 2021 and, after key players and coaching staff departed, Guangzhou were relegated to China League One at the end of the following campaign.
Guangzhou finished 12th in the first season back in China League One in 2023 before finishing third in the 2024 season, missing out on promotion behind Yunnan Yukun and Dalian Yingbo.