According to the "Notice" issued by the CFA on November 7, clubs in the 2024 Chinese Super League, First Division and Second Division should submit their application materials for the new season by December 5 at the latest. The Beijing Youth Daily reporter was informed that taking into account the practical difficulties encountered by clubs at all levels of the domestic professional league in terms of survival and operation, the AFC and the CFA agreed to give the "problematic clubs" a maximum of two weeks to supplement and improve the access materials. In other words, each club will have until December 19 to submit the required access materials. As of the morning of December 4, most of the clubs, including some of the "difficult families", had submitted their admission materials for the new season.
At the professional league working meeting held in Suzhou on November 26 and 27, the preparatory team of the Chinese Football Association and the Chinese Football Federation reported to the music departments at all levels the overall schedule of the new season for professional leagues at all levels, of which the new season of the Chinese Super League is scheduled to open on March 1 next year. It is because the opening of the next season of professional leagues at all levels is much earlier than the past three seasons, the new season at all levels of the league music department access material submission and review of the node of time is also correspondingly earlier.
On November 7, the Chinese Football Association (CFA) released a notice on the access work for clubs in the Chinese Super League (CSL), Chinese First Division (CFA) and Chinese Second Division (CSB) for the 2024 season. It is understood that in order to standardize the access work of its member associations and escort the upcoming new AFC Elite League and other boutique tournaments for clubs at all levels, the AFC has specifically requested that the top-tier and second-tier professional league clubs of its member associations submit their respective access materials to the official system of the AFC from the 2023 season onwards.
According to sources familiar with the matter, there is another background to the AFC's move - over the past few seasons, many of the furniture and music departments in the Chinese Super League and First Division have had serious contract disputes, salary arrears and other problems, and similar issues have arisen regularly, which, in fact, has exacerbated the AFC's distrust of the Chinese professional league's access to work . For this reason, the AFC has put forward a request to the CFA to strictly regulate access to the Chinese Super League and the First Division in the new season.
According to Beijing Youth Daily, the preparatory teams of the Chinese Football Association (CFA) and the Chinese Football Confederation (CFC) have recently had repeated communications with AFC regarding the admission of clubs to the Chinese Super League (CSL) and the Chinese First Division (CFD) for the new season. According to the relevant working procedures of the preparatory team of the Chinese Football Association and the Chinese Football Confederation, the AFC agreed to give the "problematic clubs" a certain amount of time to improve the access work as soon as possible, but with a maximum delay of two weeks. In other words, clubs wishing to register for the new Chinese Super League and Chinese First Division must submit qualified entry documents by the 19th at the latest.
By the morning of December 4, most of the clubs in the Chinese Super League, China A and China B had submitted their entry materials. However, some "problem clubs" have only submitted basic materials. For example, some clubs have not yet provided the confirmation form for the full payment of players' salary in the 2023 season and the confirmation form for the full payment of personnel's salary in the 2023 season as required. Even if the relevant forms are submitted, the authenticity of their contents has yet to be examined.
Currently, a few clubs in the third tier of the league are experiencing major difficulties in gaining access. For example, the Cangzhou Lions Club of the Chinese Super League is facing great difficulties. Guangzhou Football Club of the Central League is also facing difficulties in access due to a contractual dispute with former coach Carnavaro over salary issues. Unsurprisingly, the CFA and the CFL preparatory team will announce the access list of clubs at all levels of the league for the new season in batches according to the process of the materials submitted by different clubs.
