TIANJIN - Fourteen new players have joined Chinese Super League (CSL) side Shenzhen Football Club with eight of them transferring from Tianjin Tianhai, Shenzhen announced on Thursday.

The seven Chinese players Sun Ke, Mi Haolun, Zhang Lu, Zhang Yuan, Liu Yue, Xu Haofeng, Huang Ruifeng and South Korean player Song Ju-hun became free agents after their former club Tianjin Tianhai withdrew from the CSL due to financial difficulties ahead of the new season.

The Tianjin Football Association announced this week that the transfer procedure of players is based on the regulations of the Chinese Football Association, responding to the rumors that the local association had set obstacles for Tianhai's former players to change clubs.

The new season of the CSL, which had been scheduled to kick off on February 22, was postponed due to the COVID-19 outbreak and will begin on July 25.