Chinese Football Club Bought For $51M, Could Merge With Owner's Other Local Team

Dalian Aerbin Group Chair Zhao Mingyang has bought Chinese Super League club Dalian Shide, according to the CHINA DAILY. At a meeting with players on Friday, the day before the club's last match, Zhao said: "Aerbin has already bought the Dalian Shide football club with 320M yuan ($51M)." Aerbin will reportedly "make decisions on the future of players" at an Aerbin Group meeting on Wednesday (CHINA DAILY, 11/5). WILD EAST FOOTBALL wrote the sale of Dalian Shide to the Aerbin Group, which owns Dalian's other CSL club, "has many implications for football in China." The purchase included Dalian Shide's "famed academy and training facilities." Zhao has "encouraged all the players to stay in Dalian and be a part of the merged team," while promising "that nobody, both players and staff, will be left jobless by the merger." It is "still left to be seen" whether Shide will just merge into Dalian Aerbin club or if a new entity, a Dalian United or FC, will be created instead (WILDEASTFOOTBALL.net, 11/5).