When Brazilian star Alexandre Pato jetted out of China for his holidays, he played for Tianjin Quanjian. Two months and a dozen arrests later, the club as he knew it is gone.
In its place is a new incarnation, although whether Pato is still there when the Chinese Super League (CSL) season opens in the spring remains to be seen.
A discredited subsidiary of the Quanjian Group remain the owners, according to corporate records, but the club was this week renamed Tianjin Tianhai and placed under the control of the local sports authorities, state media said.
The team is facing a deeply uncertain future, hunting investment and reportedly needing to sell players to survive.
The affair is a microcosm of the worst of soccer: excessive spending, unpredictability and an overreliance on questionable corporate owners.
Tianjin Quanjian’s troubles came to light late last month when its owners, self-styled experts in traditional Chinese medicine, came under scrutiny for their treatment of a young cancer patient.
The girl was reportedly taken off chemotherapy and instead received alternative healthcare based on Quanjian-produced remedies. She died in December 2015 aged seven.
Quanjian faced a public outcry over the girl’s death after an article published on an online health platform last month was shared extensively — leading to a rapid questioning of other claims it had made for its products.
The company on Jan. 1 was placed under investigation for alleged pyramid selling and false advertising, Xinhua reported.
Quanjian founder Shu Yuhui was among more than a dozen arrested, the China Daily said.
The company has denied wrongdoing in relation to the girl.
Soccer history is littered with once-proud clubs that crashed and burned for whatever reason — but the rapid pace and murky nature of the Tianjin meltdown has stunned observers.
Shen Chen has been an avid follower of soccer in Tianjin since he was six.
Now 33, Shen said: “If Tianjin doesn’t find a better company to take over, the team is very likely to get relegated, and if by the end of the year no company comes in, the team may be disbanded and the players released.”
Tianjin Quanjian’s maroon, blue and gold crest has been unceremoniously removed from club buildings and replaced by the blue of the new Tianjin Tianhai.
The old name is also being erased online with its posts on Sina Weibo deleted and the club badge scrubbed out.
It is a far cry from just more than a year ago.
Tianjin Quanjian finished third in the 2016-2017 CSL season under the leadership of Italy World Cup winner Fabio Cannavaro, the highest in their short history.
Former AC Milan starlet Pato, now 29, was part of an expensive attack along with Frenchman Anthony Modeste.
The club — thanks to Quanjian’s cash — also boasted Belgium international midfielder Axel Witsel.
Only Pato now remains and he and his teammates, who are in pre-season training in the United Arab Emirates, have reportedly been muzzled.
Chinese fans are used to their clubs changing names or even pulling up stakes for different cities.
The Tianjin club was founded in 2006 and initially played in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, about 600km from Tianjin.
It moved to Tianjin the next year and became Tianjin Quanjian in 2015 when the ambitious company took control as part of its rise to prominence.
The club’s unraveling has received scant coverage in the state Tianjin Daily, suggesting that authorities are eager to keep a lid on the affair.
So what happens to its fans?
“It is a strange feeling for them because they did not think that Quanjian would be investigated so quickly by the state,” Shen said, adding that some supporters would switch to Tianjin Teda, strugglers in the CSL.
“I’ve seen screenshots of their group chats and they’re really fed up, but what can they do?” Shen added.
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