In June 2012, Guangdong Yuechao Sports Development Co., Ltd. and Liu Xiaowu filed a lawsuit with the Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court under the so-called "differential treatment dispute" in accordance with the Anti Monopoly Law and the Provisions of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in the Trial of Civil Disputes Caused by Monopoly Behavior, The lawsuit enjoins the invalidity of the "New Guangdong Province Five Player Football League Agreement" and the "Approval Letter for Holding Guangdong Province Indoor Five Player Football League" signed between the Guangdong Football Association and Guangzhou Pearl River Super League Sports Management Co., Ltd., which has triggered the "First Case of China Football Anti Monopoly".

The Anti Monopoly Law of our country is regarded as the "Economic Constitution", which mainly focuses on preventing and stopping monopolistic behavior, protecting fair market competition, and regulating three types of monopolistic behavior: monopoly agreements, abuse of market dominance, and concentration of operators. Anti monopoly disputes in China are mostly seen in market economy fields such as telecommunications, finance, insurance, and the internet. However, in the football field, it is still the first time that the Anti Monopoly Law is used as the main basis for filing lawsuits and applying it to handle disputes in this field in China.

Due to the involvement of antitrust law in this case, which is highly professional and covers both legal and football fields, the outcome of its judgment has immeasurable significance for the future development and trend of Chinese football. Therefore, after the Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court accepted the case, it quickly attracted great attention from the sports industry, legal industry, and major domestic media. In view of this, the Guangdong Football Association attaches great importance to this case and hereby entrusts our lawyers Zheng Haiying and Zou Zhongsheng as the first instance litigation representatives. After a year and a half and several court hearings, the Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court made a first instance judgment and ruling on November 1, 2013, rejecting all litigation requests from Guangdong Yuechao Sports Development Co., Ltd. and Liu Xiaowu in accordance with the law. The two plaintiffs appealed to the Guangdong Provincial Higher People's Court against the first instance judgment and ruling.

After accepting the case and hearing it in court, the Guangdong Provincial Higher People's Court made a final judgment and ruling on June 11, 2015, finding that the appeal requests and reasons of Guangdong Yuechao Sports Development Co., Ltd. and Liu Xiaowu were unfounded, and rejecting them in accordance with the law, upholding the original judgment.

At this point, the highly anticipated "China Football Anti Monopoly First Case" has finally come to a successful conclusion after nearly three years of trial. Our lawyers Zheng Haiying and Zou Zhongsheng have demonstrated profound legal skills and exquisite business skills in representing the case in the first and second trials, and have received praise from the client, Guangdong Football Association, and football professionals.