CHONGQING - Chongqing FC will no longer be able to operate due to financial reasons ahead of the 2022 season's Chinese Super League (CSL), the club announced on Tuesday.

According to the statement, the club has been representing Chongqing and participating in China's top professional football league since 1997. By the end of 2016, Dangdai Group had spent 540 million yuan (81 million US dollars) to acquire the club, which has invested more than three billion yuan (450 million US dollars) in the past six years.

But since 2020, the club has faced a precarious financial situation, as it was reported to be holding back players' wages. Although the club had been seeking potential buyers in recent years, it failed to do so.

"Now we want to thank all the players, coaches and staff for their hard work over the past 26 years. The desperate debt situation forces us to make this difficult decision to dissolve the club," read a club statement on Tuesday.

Sources told Xinhua that the club owner Dangdai Group is also in financial trouble and is unable to pay off the club's debt of more than 700 million yuan (105 million US dollars), although some of the club's staff are willing to give up part of their salaries.

Chongqing is not alone in facing such a predicament. Fellow CSL side Cangzhou FC are also reportedly facing similar financial problems, while 2020 Chinese Super League champions Jiangsu Suning disbanded just 108 days after taking their first-ever CSL title.