CHINA
Wuhan Three Towns win Chinese Super League due to covid-19
The team was proclaimed champions mathematically, after title rival Tianjin Jinmen Tiger was hit by illness.
On Friday, Spanish coach Pedro Morilla’s Wuhan Three Towns were mathematically proclaimed Chinese champions after the Super League announced that their rivals for tomorrow’s game, Tianjin Jinmen Tiger, would not be able to appear due to the illness of many of the members of its staff.
Wuhan celebrates thanks to covid
The Super League published through its official Weibo account -- Weibo is similar to Twitter, which is censored in authoritarian China -- that the Tianjin Jinmen Tiger and Beijing Guoan would not be able to play their matches against the Wuhan side and Shandong Taishan respectively, the two candidates for the title, on the last round scheduled for Saturday.
The main reason given for this decision is due to the illness of many of the players from both teams, afflicted by covid-19 with a serious new outbreak plaguing the Asian giant.
The cancellation of both matches results in an automatic 3-0 victory for Wuhan Three Towns and Shandong Taishan, who will finish the season tied on 78 points, but with an advantage for the former due to their better five goals difference.
The team led by Morilla can now boast of having won the last three professional Chinese soccer championships they’ve competed in, winning consecutively League Two, League One and now the Super League since 2020. With this outcome, it only remains to be determined which team will accompany the champions and runners-up in the next edition of the Asian Champions League next season, with Zhejiang FC, Shanghai Port and Chengdu Rongcheng as the contenders.
What happened to Guangzhou?
For their part, the former absolute dominators of the category with eight titles, Guangzhou FC, formerly known as Guangzhou Evergrande, certified their relegation to League One the day before, along with Wuhan Yangtze River and Hebei FC.
The city of Wuhan, belonging to the Hubei province, is celebrating twice as it also has the champion team of the women’s Super League, Wuhan Changjiang University, less than a month after the third anniversary of the city lockdown, where the covid pandemic began.