Chinese teams homesick, stuck in Qatar after knockout from AFC Champions League

Guangzhou Evergrande players are yearning to return to their homes after
being stuck in Qatar following their elimination from the AFC Champions League.

Evergrande team is among three Chinese Super League teams that is awaiting
approval for a charter flight. The other teams are Shanghai clubs Shenhua and
SIPG.

Midfielder Yan Dinghao wrote on Weibo, the Chinese microblogging website
that he was on “the edge of collapse, really homesick”.

“When will we be able to return????”, player He Chao added.

“I can only stay locked in my hotel room. I can’t see my family. I
want to go home”, forward Wei Shihao wrote.

This year, the Champions League is taking place in a secure ‘bubble’ in
Qatar due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Also Read | AFC Champions League: Yokohama FM take on Suwon Bluewings for a place in the quarter-finals

The global footballers union FIFPro blamed the Asian Football
Confederation for not consulting the players before hosting the tournament in
Qatar, the nation hosting the 2022 World Cup.

CSL players were ‘exhausted physically and mentally’ after spending
several months away from home, Shanghai Morning Post reported on Thursday.

Chinese team Beijing Guoan will be playing the quarter-finals on Thursday.
However, all the teams expressed reluctance in going to Qatar in the first
place, the newspaper said.

The AFC subsidised meals and hotel accommodation as long as the teams
were in the competition, but once they were eliminated, they had to pay their
own bills, the Post added.

The AFC did not immediately respond to a request for comment about why
teams had been unable to secure a flight home.