In the early hours of November 23rd, the sky of Chinese soccer was lit up with heavy news as the Football Association struck like a thunderbolt, announcing point deductions and penalties for eight teams, including Shanghai Shenhua and Wuhan Changjiang.
Tracing back to the Nov. 5 FA announcement, those three clubs - Hebei, Wuhan Changjiang and Hunan Xiangtao - that had not resolved wage arrears by July 31, and whose arrears exceeded 30 percent of the total, have been deducted three league points for their previous negligence.
In the penalty notice, the FA seriously pointed out that in order to ensure that professional soccer clubs can effectively solve the problem of wage arrears, the FA issued a notice of the CFA on the work related to the 2022 Chinese Super League, Chinese League One and Chinese League Two as early as April 2nd.
The notice requires clubs to resolve at least 70% of wage arrears by October 31st. Immediately after, on October 18, the FA issued a notice on the implementation of policies related to the 2022 professional league season, which updated and confirmed the total amount of salary arrears.
After the clubs submitted the repayment proof materials, the Football Association conducted a preliminary review. on November 11, the Football Association sent a letter to the relevant clubs, requesting them to provide additional instructions and relevant payment vouchers before November 20,.
However, Shanghai Shenhua and eight other clubs failed to implement the above requirements in accordance with the regulations, and the FA decided to deduct six points from each of them from the 2022 league season accordingly.
The FA emphasized that clubs must attach great importance to the repayment of salary arrears. Those clubs that fail to implement the requirements of the notice will be dealt with in strict accordance with the regulations once they are found to have done so.
This is a serious notice and a warning to the soccer world, officially issued on November 23, 2022 by the Chinese Football Association.
China Football Association (CFA)
November 23, 2022
