As we unveil the penalty announcements for the 2024 season, here are a few key features to ponder:
For starters, the total number of tickets for the 2024 season jumped to 28, up 13 from 15 in the 2023 season, and a staggering 87% increase from the year-ago figure, a number that can't help but be staggeringly high.
Secondly, looking at the growth rates of different league levels, we find an interesting phenomenon: the lower the league level, the higher the growth rate of fines. of the 15 fines in the 2023 season, Chinese Super League clubs contributed 3, China A League 5, China B League 5, and other tournaments and the AFC Cup 1 each. This season, however, the Chinese Super League's fines plummeted to two, while the Chinese A League rose to nine, an astonishing 80 percent increase. The increase in the China B League was a staggering 120%.
Furthermore, there was not even a single penalty ticket in the 2023 season of the Junior League, whereas there were three at once this season. Among them, there is no lack of improper words and deeds of coaches to players and parents, and even some players intentionally kicked people, and what's more, a substitute player rushed into the field and "kicked the opposing player's abdomen", which is a shocking bad behavior.
Nonetheless, the introduction of the "new eight" rules in the new season has led to an increase in the attention paid by clubs to match style and discipline, with a corresponding drop in the number of tickets issued in the Chinese Super League, a trend which, at least for the time being, appears to be borne out by the basic elements of the match process.
However, the number of fines has risen dramatically in the China A and China B leagues, which seems to imply that the lower the league level, the lower the level of attention and education of the clubs in relative terms. The increase in rule and discipline violations in professional leagues does not appear to be coincidental. How to synchronize and improve the management level of the whole professional league may become a real problem that the FA needs to face up to, or a new topic that needs to be explored in the new era.
