With the conclusion of the Xianghe meeting on February 7, a timetable quietly surfaced - the CFA and the federation's preparatory team planned to unveil the 2023 Chinese Football Association's access regulations for professional clubs on the 10th. However, on the eve of this, in the late afternoon of February 9, a media exchange on the 2023 professional soccer league was held as scheduled, and the federation's preparatory team formally unveiled the competition policy for the new season.
Looking back to earlier, our reports have long mentioned the 2023 Professional League Club Heads Meeting, as well as the Summit of the Heads of Chinese Super League, Chinese First Division and Chinese Second Division Clubs held at the Xianghe National Team Base on the 7th. The introduction of the new policy has undoubtedly sounded the horn for the 2023 season.
At the exchange meeting, we got an in-depth explanation of the core policies of the 2023 league. According to documents released at the meeting, the Super League and Division 1 will revert to a home-and-away system, while Division 2 will be played in divisions. The size of the league will be based on access. The Premier League organizers are still sticking to the slogan of "at least 16 teams".
In addition, the transfer policy, the new season, the domestic transfer policy and transfer cap to maintain the status quo, foreign players capital expenditure shall not exceed 45 million yuan / person, domestic players are less than 20 million yuan / person. The registration policy also remains unchanged, the number of Chinese Super League clubs to register 23 people, including foreign players up to 5 people.
It is worth mentioning that the U23 policy has been officially canceled, but each team in the Chinese Super League and the Chinese League A has at least five U21 players enrolled in the program, and the clubs have been registered for more than four years. The Chinese League A also requires one U21 player to be present at all times. As for the China B League, the FA will revisit the rule that only five players over the age of 31 can be registered.
Meanwhile, the rules for the new season, such as "the number of foreign aiders that can be registered in the China A-League" and "the accumulation of yellow cards by the benches", are still pending, and the rules for suspension or fines for the actual responsible person (the head coach) need to be clarified further. As for the rules for the winning team of the U21 League to enter the China B League, the Preparatory Group of the Federation has also given a detailed explanation.
However, if a club's U21 team is promoted to China B, does it still need to field an eligible U21 team in the U21 League next season? Is the B team of a club in the S2 League eligible to participate in the FA Cup? These issues need to be further discussed.
In terms of financial indicators, the original standards will be maintained this year and there will be no further salary restrictions. Most clubs are under the standard and there is no need for further salary restrictions. In addition, the Premier League has welcomed two new sponsors, and the contracts of some old sponsors have expired, with renewal negotiations under way.
