Late at night on February 15, the Chinese Football Association (CFA) announced to the public the announcement of the adjustment of the admission standards for Chinese Super League (CSL), Chinese First Division (CFA) and Chinese Second Division (CSB) clubs for the 2023 season! This time, the Football Association has partially revised the admission rules!
In terms of club building structure, Super League teams are required to establish a 6-tier ladder, League One teams are required to have a 5-tier ladder, and League Two teams are required to have a 4-tier ladder. Each team must have at least 18 players registered under the club's name. At the same time, professional clubs need to be deeply involved in the operation of the teams to help the development of women's soccer; the supported women's soccer teams should participate in the Women's Super League, Women's First League or Women's Second League!
With regard to the requirements relating to stadiums, the FA specifically stated that "On match days, commercial establishments in stadiums and their safety zones (including outfield) are required to suspend their operations and promotions, cover all brand logos, and refrain from releasing advertisements and content that contravene the commercial regulations of the league. At the same time, it should be ensured that the stadiums and their safety zones (including outfield) have adequate commercial and non-commercial display areas as well as fan interaction areas."
The qualification requirements for Level B coaches are specified as Level A or undergoing Level A training.
In addition, the location of the training base of a SBC club is stipulated as having to be within the registered area of the member association or within 100 kilometers of the jurisdiction of the club's registered member association.
For the qualifications of the ladder coaches, the FA especially emphasized that the head coaches of the U21, U19 ladder teams of the Chinese Super League, the Chinese Super League and the Chinese First Division must hold A-level certificates or be attending A-level training.
The FA also emphasized the need for teams to actively participate in the AFC Champions League and FA Cup, not to withdraw from matches without good reason, and to field the strongest possible lineups to strive for excellent results. At the same time, the new disciplinary regulations require clubs to comply with the disciplinary regulations and rulings set by the International Court of Arbitration for Sport, FIFA, AFC, CFA, China Sports Arbitration Commission and other bodies; and to pay the relevant sums of money within the stipulated period.
In terms of finances, the FA requires clubs to submit annual financial statements and budgets by February 28 each year.
A number of additions and adjustments to this access policy were unveiled one by one.
Dating back to December 21, 2017, the 2018 Professional Club Entry Regulations released by the CFA stipulated that Chinese Super League and Chinese First Division teams were required to set up five tiers of ladders, and Chinese Second Division teams were required to set up four tiers of ladders.
Five years ago, the criteria for a team's training base was that it "must be within the registered boundaries of a member association or within 100 kilometers of the jurisdiction of the club's registered member association."
The 2018 edition of the Professional Clubs Admission Regulations explicitly requires that the head coaches of the U19 ladder teams in the Chinese Super League and the Chinese First Division must hold A-level certificates.
On January 3, 2019, the Football Association (FA) announced revisions to the CFA's regulations on access to professional clubs, adding a new provision that "Chinese Super League clubs must have women's football" and stipulating that commercial organizations in stadiums and their safety zones (including outfields) are required to suspend business and publicity on match days, and are not allowed to publish advertisements and content that violate the league's commercial regulations.
However, under the impact of the three-year epidemic, China's soccer industry has faced many difficulties; some teams have even found it difficult to pay their basic salaries. Against this backdrop, the FA made repeated concessions in its access policy, enabling many teams to continue to compete, and to ease the burden, ladder construction and women's soccer teams were no longer a requirement. With the departure of a large number of foreign coaches, a new generation of local coaches has risen; in order to give more opportunities to young coaches, the qualification requirements for ladder team coaches and Coach B have been relaxed accordingly.
But have the FA's concessions really paid off? Is it reasonable for the FA to make concessions on basic rules?
If the ladder team is no longer a necessary option for professional clubs, and if clubs don't pay attention to youth training, where will the future talents of Chinese soccer go? If coaches lack systematic learning and training, how can these coaches who lack practical experience lead the ladder teams and develop young players in China B?
This new rule requires clubs to pay attention to the results of the AFC Champions League, Super Cup and related rulings. Considering that in the last two or three seasons, Chinese Super League teams have performed poorly in the AFC Champions League, and some teams even chose to withdraw from the tournament or send their youth teams to play in the competition, resulting in a significant drop in the Super League's technical scores, which was one of the reasons why Du Zhaocai lost in the AFC election. In the past two years, apart from a few teams that took the FA Cup seriously, most of the teams were just going through the motions; this perfunctory attitude and boring match scenes seriously damaged the brand value and commercial value of the FA Cup. At this point, these two binding regulations may be considered as "stopgap measures"!
The three-year epidemic has not only caused difficulties for clubs, but the successive fixtures and poor quality of matches have led to a significant drop in the league's ratings, brand value and commercial value, as well as a serious loss of fans. Now, with numerous officials, coaches and players taken away, Chinese soccer seems to be heading for a low point. Will this time, when the soccer association adjusts the admission standards back to the level of four or five years ago, be the starting point to set things right?
