On April 25, the Chinese Football Association unveiled the lineups for the 2022 season for all levels of the league, with four teams from Hubei listed, namely Super League giants Wuhan Changjiang and Wuhan Sanzhen, as well as Super League B powerhouses Hubei Young Stars and Wuhan Jiangcheng. Although the schedule for the three-tier league has yet to be announced, it is widely expected that the Super League will kick off in early May.
In the 2022 season, the Chinese Super League expanded to 18 teams for the first time, with the Wuhan duo taking two seats. Wuhan Changjiang, formerly known as Wuhan, is led by former relegation-winning coach Li Jinyu this season, and the team is looking forward to a better performance in its fourth consecutive season in the Chinese Super League.
Since its establishment in 2014, the newly promoted Super League Wuhan Three Towns Football Club has experienced the start of the 2018 Chinese Championship, and achieved a three-stage jump to successfully reach the Super League in the 2021 season. At present, the team has introduced foreign aid, preparation is in full swing, and the strength has increased greatly. There are voices predicting that the dark horse of the new season is not Wuhan Three Town.
Outside of the Chinese Super League, the new season features 18 teams in the Chinese League A, while the Chinese League B accommodates 20 teams, including the U-19 national men's soccer team. In Hubei, two teams, Hubei Young Stars and Wuhan Jiangcheng, will compete in the S.B. The latter was originally the mid-campaign Hubei Huachuang, which was promoted to the S.B. for the first time last year through a play-off.
The CFA also released a number of new policies for the 2022 season of the professional league, especially in the promotion and relegation system ushered in a major adjustment, the Chinese Super League and the Chinese A, the Chinese A and the Chinese B will for the first time to implement the policy of "3 down 3", that is, the last three Super League relegated to the Chinese A, the top three of the Chinese A promotion of the Chinese Super League; the last three of the Chinese A relegated to the Chinese B, the top three of the Chinese B promoted to the The top three are promoted to the Chinese Super League; the bottom three are relegated to the Chinese B League and the top three are promoted to the Chinese A League. At the same time, the implementation of the policy of "promotion 4 down 2" in the Chinese B and Chinese Championship means that the Chinese B will be expanded to 22 teams in the 2023 season.
This season, the CFA has not set a quota for clubs at all levels to bring in local players, but in the current downturn in the transfer market, finding a satisfactory job is quite challenging for players, and some may even choose to retire as a result.
