In a Nov. 25 message, Beijing Youth Daily revealed that the upcoming China B League will follow the same system of qualifying matches for the first stage and qualifying matches for the final stage.
The Chinese Football Association (CFA), together with the professional leagues, asked professional clubs on November 21st for their opinions on the "2025 CFA Major Tournament Competition Calendar (Men)". It is reported that the 2025 season will see the Chinese Super League and the Chinese League A maintain the size of 16 teams, while the Chinese League B will expand to 24 teams, up from 20 teams in the 2024 season. Among the three tiers of leagues, the only one expanding is the Chinese B League. The new season is scheduled to kick off on March 22 and end on October 26, with 30 rounds of matches throughout the season.
According to the rules of promotion and relegation, the top four teams of this season's Chinese Champions League - Shenzhen 2028, Guizhou Chuksung Athletic, Guangdong Minto and Guangzhou Anhua - will be directly promoted to the Chinese B League. Industry analysts analyze that some investors in low-level clubs invest with a tentative mindset, and if the promotion is successful, it will be conducive to subsequent investment; if the result is not good, it can be stopped in time. In contrast, the risk of investing in low-level clubs is low, which is also the reason why the heat of the Championship and League B has continued to rise in recent years.
The new CSL B season will be similar to the 2024 season in that it will consist of a qualifying round and a final stage qualifying round. 24 teams will be spread across the North and South divisions in a double round robin competition. The top four teams in the North and South divisions (8 teams in total) will advance to the final stage to compete for promotion, while the remaining 8 teams will be divided into two relegation groups to play the second stage (two-legged matches). Teams that met in the qualifiers will not meet again in the second stage. In addition, the clubs that are the winners and runners-up of the U21 League in the 2024 season will also qualify for the 2025 season of the Chinese B League.
