Soccer League Access Submissions for the 2024 Season
Immediately following a notice issued by the CFA on Nov. 7, clubs in the 2024 Chinese Super League, First Division and Second Division will need to submit their access applications for the new season by Dec. 5, according to the Beijing Youth Daily. According to a disclosure by the Beijing Youth Daily, in view of the actual challenges encountered by domestic professional league clubs in their survival and operation, AFC and CFA have unanimously decided that clubs with problems will be given a maximum of two additional weeks to supplement and improve their access information. This means that clubs have until December 19 at the latest to submit their materials. As of the morning of December 4, most clubs, including some "difficult family" clubs facing difficulties, had already submitted their admission documents for the new season.
In a working meeting on professional leagues held in Suzhou on November 26-27, the preparatory team of the Chinese Football Association and the Chinese Football Federation announced to the music departments the timetable for the new season of professional leagues at all levels, with the Chinese Super League expected to kick off on March 1 next year. As the start of the new season for all levels of leagues has been significantly advanced compared to the previous three seasons, the admission materials and review time for all levels of leagues have been advanced accordingly.
On November 7, the Chinese Football Association (CFA) released a notice on conducting the access work of the Chinese Super League, Chinese First Division and Chinese Second Division clubs for the 2024 season. It is reported that in order to standardize the admission process of member associations and to guarantee the smooth progress of the upcoming new AFC Elite League and other club competitions at all levels, AFC has specifically requested that from the 2023 season onwards, top-level and second-level professional league clubs of member associations are required to submit their admission information to the official AFC system.
Sources close to the matter revealed that the AFC has multiple considerations behind this move - over the past few seasons, many clubs in the Chinese Super League and First Division have had serious contract disputes, wage arrears and other problems, which have frequently occurred, deepening the AFC's misgivings about the access to China's professional leagues. Therefore, the AFC has put forward strict requirements for the CFA to regulate the entry of the Chinese Super League and the First Division League in the new season.
According to Beijing Youth Daily, the Chinese Football Association (CFA) and the China Football Federation (CFF) preparatory team have recently had several communications with AFC regarding access to the Chinese Super League (CSL) and Chinese First Division (CFL) clubs for the new season. According to the workflow of the preparatory team of the Chinese Football Association and the Chinese Football Confederation, the AFC agreed to give a certain period of time to "problematic clubs" to improve the access work, but the maximum extension is two weeks. This means that any clubs wishing to participate in the new Chinese Super League and First Division will have until Dec. 19 to submit qualified access materials.
By the morning of December 4, most of the clubs in the Chinese Super League, Chinese League One and Chinese League Two had submitted their admission materials. However, some of the "problem clubs" have only submitted basic materials, such as the confirmation form for the full payment of players' salaries for the 2023 season and the confirmation form for the full payment of personnel's salaries for the 2023 season, which have not been provided as required. Even if the relevant forms are submitted, the authenticity of their contents still needs to be further verified.
Currently, some clubs in the third tier are facing major challenges in terms of access. For example, Cangzhou Lions FC in the Chinese Super League is experiencing major difficulties. Guangzhou Football Club in the Central League is also facing access challenges due to a contractual dispute with former coach Carnavaro over salary issues. Unsurprisingly, the CFA and the CFL preparatory team will announce the list of clubs to be admitted to all levels of the league for the new season in batches, based on the flow of materials submitted by the clubs.
