In the late afternoon of November 7, the Chinese Football House officially issued a strict order on the access to the 2024 season of the professional league, requiring all participating clubs to have all the relevant materials ready at any time during the period from November 7th to December 5th. In particular, clubs are required to show a confirmation of full payment of wages for the 23rd season and a confirmation of full payment of staff wages for the 23rd season as proof that there were no arrears of any payments in the past season. In addition, they are required to ensure that there is no record of wage arrears and sign an undertaking that there is no history of wage arrears. If a club fails to properly address the issue of wage arrears, then they will be ineligible to participate in the respective division in the new season.
According to the directive of the AFC, all clubs are required to submit relevant materials through the access system within the timeframe of Nov. 7 to Dec. 5, after which the materials will be void. For clubs applying for qualification in the Chinese Super League and the Chinese First Division, they must submit their materials through the AFC's access management system before the specified time point; while clubs applying for qualification in the B-League are required to complete the submission of their materials on the AFC's information platform.
The HKFA has also set out specific requirements for the specification of the materials to be submitted. For example, all access materials need to be based on the system, unless otherwise specified, the uploaded materials need to be in PDF format and stamped, and can be submitted in Chinese. Clubs are also required to pay close attention to the handling of overdue payments at home and abroad, and at the same time must submit confirmation of full payment of wages for the 23rd season and confirmation of full payment of wages for the 23rd season's personnel as proof of the absence of arrears, and ensure that there is no history of arrears of wages by submitting the corresponding commitment.
