Fears for Yifang as Wanda cuts funding

Dalian Yifang's future is in serious doubt after Wanda Group announced it is pulling the plug on its investment in the Chinese Super League club in favor of building its own team.

Speculation has been rife in recent weeks that Wanda was about to halt its funding of Yifang and the wider soccer scene in Dalian, Liaoning province.

On Wednesday, the multinational property giant, which has never owned any shares in the club, issued a statement to clarify its position.

"For multiple reasons, Wanda Group can still not acquire Dalian Yifang's shares, and many of the club's old problems could not be solved," read the statement.

"Under such circumstances, Wanda Group will no longer continue to support Dalian Yifang as it has been doing.

"Wanda has built world-class soccer infrastructure in Dalian and top-class youth teams in the city. We also have a long-term commitment to supporting campus soccer in schools in the city of Dalian.

"We will not withdraw from Dalian soccer. Instead, we will seek to build our own club and continue to support soccer's development in Dalian."

The news has been hotly debated on Chinese social media, with related topics viewed over 20 million times on Weibo. Many fans have expressed concern for Yifang's future and accused Wanda of reneging on its commitment to soccer in the region.

However, Wanda, which began its association with Yifang at the start of the 2018 CSL season when the club's shareholders withdrew financial support for the team, firmly rejected such notions.

"For the past two years, Wanda Group has been paying for the high operating costs of the Dalian Yifang club, and we have spent 2 billion yuan (about $287 million) to establish a soccer youth training center in Dalian," the statement from Wanda continued.

"We have also invested 1 billion yuan to establish more than a dozen youth teams of various age groups, from 12 to 21 years old, and totaling about 350 youth players.

"We have also signed a decadelong deal of 500 million yuan to support soccer's development in 10 primary schools in Dalian. If Wanda has not been serious about soccer, how could we have made such long-term plans?"