January 6 is the last submission date required by the CFA for clubs in the three tiers of professional leagues to submit the third node for clearing up historical salary arrears. February and March this year will be the nodes for the 2023 professional league access review. These two stages of the review will determine the life and death of a number of Chinese Super League, Chinese League One and Chinese League Two clubs.
According to the notice previously issued by the CFA, before January 6, 2023, the authorized person of each professional soccer club to solve the problem of salary arrears should submit the latest repayment vouchers to the contact person of this notice. The CFA will conduct a detailed review of the relevant materials submitted by each professional soccer club.
Previously, on July 7, 2022, the CFA issued a supplementary notice of the CFA on the further implementation of the policies relating to the 2022 professional leagues at all levels, which re-emphasized the need for professional soccer clubs to accurately understand the policy provisions, strictly implement the requirements of the program, carefully sort out the historical arrears of wages, and report on the progress of the settlement of arrears of wages. Following the release of the above document, most professional soccer clubs completed at least 70% of the wage arrears requirements in the second phase. The unresolved clubs such as Wuhan Changjiang, Shanghai Shenhua and Hebei Team were also penalized.
According to reports, many clubs in the current third-tier league may not be able to submit proof of clearing historical wage arrears on time, but the CFA is very determined this time and never tolerates teams that default on wages. If the Chinese Super League clubs can't pass the historical salary arrears clearance and access audit, the CFA has also prepared for the worst and is even ready to play the Chinese Super League with 16 clubs. China A and China B leagues are also prepared to reduce or even fall below the number of Chinese Super League clubs.
It is understood that about five Chinese Super League (CSL) clubs are currently at risk of wage arrears and share reform. At the same time, some clubs have the dilemma of share reform, and there is a big problem of future survival and development. In this regard, the CFA's attitude is very firm. If less than 18 Chinese Super League teams finally complete the liquidation of arrears, the Football Association will not be accommodated in order to make up 18 teams, and would rather reduce the number of Chinese Super League teams than tolerate teams in arrears.
