The century-old club encounters an existential crisis! Zhang Yuning s old club was revoked for the second time

Zhang Yuning's old club and former Dutch Eredivisie club Witts Football Club once again face the crisis of revocation of his professional license. The independent licensing committee of the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) announced that it plans to decide to cancel the club's professional qualification from the 2025/2026 season. The official announcement was officially released several hours after the news was exposed in advance by the local media "Gelderlands".

KNVB stated in the statement: "The Licensing Committee made this temporary decision because of Waiters' systematic supervision evasion. Although the club made a solemn commitment in the summer of 2024 (at the time when the licensing revocation) it continued to evade the licensing system supervision. "

"Witers had previously promised to the License Committee that it would impose strict controls on potential new owners, but none of these promises were fulfilled. Specifically, it was: the replacement of supervisory board members at critical moments and failed to fill in time; the independent foundation established last year aimed at reducing the risk of sanctions and money laundering failed to function properly and was dissolved midway through the season. "

The club expressed shock at this "unpleasant decision" in its official statement and emphasized that it would file a complaint before the final ruling.

This century-old club was once famous for establishing strategic cooperative relations with Chelsea. It has been firmly ranked among the Dutch Eredivisie since 1990 to 2024, and was shortlisted for the UEFA Cup and the European League 6 times during this period. However, since Russian boss Valeri Oyff was forced to sell the club due to EU sanctions, Wits has been trapped in the financial abyss.

The acquisition plans of American investor Coley Parry and local entrepreneur Gus Frank have been aborted one after another. During this period, the club was unable to pay the players' salaries and venue rent, and was eventually revoked its professional license in June 2024. Although Frank took over before the deadline, he was subsequently deducted 33 league points in September and November due to his failure to submit financial reports on time.

In January 2025, a new consortium composed of Americans Dane Murphy, Flint Reilly, Germans Timo Brasch, Leon Mueller, and Italian-American Brian Monagi entered the club, but immediately had a dispute with KNVB about the acquisition compliance. The Football Association questioned that former boss Pari still maintained his influence on the club through concealed methods.

Acting Director Brasch recently publicly criticized KNVB for its different treatment: "We are subject to stricter scrutiny than any other Eredivisie club. The licensing committee is composed of volunteers who need to look at the future rather than indulge in the past." The German executive revealed that in order to avoid repeating the paris-style acquisition dilemma, the new shareholder deliberately controlled the shareholding ratio below 25% to circumvent the approval process.