Nantong Zhiyun, the Chinese Super League's newest team, is gearing up for winter preparations. Photo//ICphoto
The night was low, and on February 15, the official website of the Chinese Football Association (CFA) suddenly released a notice from the CFA on adjusting some provisions of the club admission rules. This document, known as the adjustment notice, marks the official opening of the professional club access work for the 2023 season. Compared with the past, the CFA has added a number of new regulations in this access rule, such as clubs must seriously prepare for the AFC, FA Cup and Super Cup, shall not arbitrarily withdraw from or strike, as well as strictly abide by the rulings at all levels, etc. These new clauses triggered a wide range of concerns once they were released.
However, the adjustment notice, which should have been issued earlier, was unexpectedly "late", resulting in a two-day delay in the closure of the access system.
On February 7, the Preparatory Group of the Chinese Football Association and the Chinese Football Federation held a meeting at the national team training base in Xianghe to discuss and study the admission of clubs to the 2023 Chinese Football Professional League. The original plan was to release the access procedures and deadline of March 3 on February 10, but due to various reasons, the clubs failed to receive the relevant documents on time, and it was not until the evening of the 15th that the adjustment notice was formally announced. As a result, the deadline for clubs to submit admission materials was also postponed to March 5th.
Although the access work of Chinese professional soccer clubs seems to be "extraordinary" in the past two years, the Football Association hopes that the adjustment of the rules will bring the access work back to the right track. According to the requirements of the adjustment notice, clubs applying for admission should submit legally audited annual financial statements by February 28th each year, and submit the financial budget for the current year by March 31st.
On Feb. 8, the Dahlians also began their winter training tour. Photo/Photo/ICphoto
In the access rules, the Football Association has particularly emphasized that clubs should not abandon or strike matches without any reason, and has included match attitude in the access rules. In recent years, affected by the epidemic, schedule conflicts and other factors, the performance of the Chinese Super League teams in the AFC Champions League is not satisfactory, abandonment of the game, the phenomenon of ladder matches occur from time to time. For this reason, the Football Association has added the commitment to "actively and seriously participate in AFC tournaments" to the admission rules.
The new regulation requires that clubs applying for admission must undertake to prepare for AFC tournaments in earnest in accordance with the AFC tournament admission requirements and tournament rules, not to abandon or go on strike without any reason, and to obey the management of the tournament organizers, strengthen the management of the style of play, and field the strongest lineups for the best results. This requirement also applies to domestic tournaments such as the FA Cup and Super Cup.
It is worth mentioning that the commitment to actively and seriously participate in the AFC, FA Cup and Super Cup is classified as a Grade A criterion, i.e. a "mandatory criterion". Failure to fulfill the relevant commitments will affect the club's eligibility for the following year.
The Chinese Super League returned to the home and away system this season, and the attitude towards the AFC Champions League should be restored to "all out win". 2021 and 2022, the Chinese Super League teams in the group stage of the AFC Champions League for two consecutive years without a win, which is at the trough of the Chinese soccer, to participate in the AFC Champions League with a positive attitude is not only a step to salvage the reputation of Chinese football, but also an opportunity to show the strength of the Chinese football. Chinese soccer strength of the opportunity.
All Chinese Super League teams, including Beijing Guoan, must have six ladder teams. Photo/ICphoto
