According to the timetable announced at the February 7 meeting in Xianghe, the Preparatory Group of the Chinese Football Association and the Chinese Football Federation should issue regulations on February 10 for the admission of professional clubs to the 2023 Chinese Football Association. Specific points in time for the access work were stipulated, and if the organizers clearly informed the clubs at the meeting that they failed to pay back all the arrears of wages, arrears of international arbitration disputes and their liquidated damages or indemnities, and disciplinary penalties, they would not be able to pass the access of the league of the corresponding level for the new season. It is understood that in order to ensure the stable operation of the league and to protect the rights and interests of all parties in the league, including sponsors, the Super League will ensure that there will be at least 16 teams in the new season.
Strict enforcement of access protocols
There's no room for discussion.
At Monday's meeting in Xianghe, the preparatory team of the Chinese Football Federation (CFF) reported to the heads of the Chinese Super League (CSL), the First Division and the Second Division, explaining the policy (additions and adjustments) plan for the new season for all levels of professional leagues. Although the relevant content must be discussed by the delegates before it finally becomes an executive resolution, judging from the statement of the organizers, there is no room for discussion on the strict implementation of the admission procedures for the new season at all levels of the league. In other words, music departments at all levels must complete access training and formally submit their access materials on February 13. on February 20, the first batch of music departments that have been paid (all arrears of wages and contractual disputes involving arrears, compensation, etc.) are announced as the results of the initial review, which lasts for seven days. march 3 is the deadline for music departments to submit their access materials.
It was also made clear that the access process will be completed on March 20 and the organizers will publish the access list. It is important to note that in addition to repayment of salary arrears, clubs must also pay all outstanding disciplinary fines and contractual disputes (including international arbitration) involving salary arrears and their liquidated damages or indemnities before the completion of the access process, otherwise they will not be able to pass through the access clearance.
It is worth noting that in the meeting on July 7, the Chinese Football Federation preparatory group roughly gave the new season of the three levels of professional league roughly start time, did not specify the specific start time point, closing time point of the confirmation of the confirmation can not be confirmed for the time being.
Prior to that, the preparatory teams of the CCA and the CFA had initially planned to start the new season on the first day of the mid-season from April 14th to 16th. As for the closing nodes, two were booked for November and December, respectively. As for how to choose, it depends on whether the Chinese Super League can maintain the size of 18 teams.
There are more than two difficult clubs
League faces possibility of downsizing
In fact, before the Xianghe meeting, there are rumors in the domestic soccer industry that the Chinese Super League Shenzhen Club and Guangzhou City Club have been affected by a variety of objective factors and difficulties, has come to the "life and death" of the critical moment, it is said that more than these two clubs registered on the crisis list. If more than two Chinese Super League clubs (including promoted clubs) fail to meet the entry conditions, the new season of the Chinese Super League may face a further reduction in size. In addition, there were rumors before the meeting that if the Chinese Super League clubs were unable to gain access, the tournament organizers would, in principle, no longer substitute other teams into the Super League. It was reported that some of the middle and lower level clubs had asked the representatives of the tournament organizers about the possibility of replacing their clubs for promotion and received negative replies.
It is reported that up to now, the tournament organizers still adhere to the attitude of "at least 16 teams in the new season of the Chinese Super League", the specific reasons are not difficult to understand. On the one hand, it has not been easy for the Chinese Super League to grow to 18 teams since its inception in the 2004 season. If the number of 18 teams is drastically reduced after just one season, it could damage the league's image. In addition, the AFC has strict quantitative requirements for the number of league rounds in each member association country (region). If there are too few teams in the league, the home and away double round robin system will result in a reduction in the overall number of tournament rounds. If the number of tournament rounds increases, fair play may be affected by the unevenness of home and away matches. Another point worth noting is that the Chinese Super League, as a professional league, has strict commercial attributes. In recent seasons, due to objective factors, the commercial income of the Chinese Super League has significantly decreased, and the amount of some sponsorship cooperation has also decreased to different degrees. Therefore, while working with the clubs to tide over the difficult times, the tournament organizers should also restore the confidence of all kinds of commercial partners to invest in local professional soccer by improving the scale of the league, optimizing the level of league competition, and enhancing the league's credibility and brand appeal. Therefore, it is very important to maintain a stable scale and a sufficient number of matches in the league.
Clubs at all levels except U21
There should also be multiple echelons
According to the plan notified at the Xianghe meeting, the new U21 local player policy is likely to be implemented at all levels of the league in the new season. The Chinese Football Association (CFA) and the Preparatory Group of the Chinese Football Federation (CFF) are to be commended for their initial efforts to promote clubs to explore and develop new talents through relevant measures. However, over the years, different levels and music sectors have different talent pools with different methods of equity distribution, economic base and strength, operation modes and investment priorities. It may be difficult for some music sectors to implement the new U21 rules. According to the plan, each club in the Chinese Super League, China First Division and China Second Division should register five U21 local players for the new season, and U21 players in the Chinese Super League and China First Division must have been registered with their clubs for at least four years.
In addition, clubs at all levels should set up a number of echelons in addition to the U21 team to replace the former reserve team. This is actually "forcing" clubs to emphasize youth training and the cultivation and reserve of young talents. However, over the years, a considerable number of clubs are eager for quick success, perfunctory, ignoring the echelon construction, or adopting various means such as temporary recruitment. So how can such clubs meet the new admission standards? It can be seen that, in the strict regulation system, to protect the interests of the league, tournament organizers need to carefully consider other factors, either both, or to find a "balance" between the two points.
