According to the plan, the new season of the Chinese Super League will kick off on April 23. It is understood that in consideration of the expansion of the Chinese Super League to 18 teams in the new season and the encouragement of professional leagues at all levels to actively participate, the Preparatory Group of the Chinese Football Association and the China Football Federation initially decided to increase the number of relegation places in the Chinese Super League in the new season from "0.5 + 0.5" last season to 2 or 3 after repeated communication.
That is to say, there will be no promotion and relegation play-offs in the Chinese Super League and The Chinese First Division in the new season. The "increase to 3" option is more likely to be adopted. Considering the practical difficulties faced by clubs at all levels and the need to maintain the stability of the league, the Chinese Football Association and the China Football Federation tend to follow the method of registration and transfer of players from the 3rd level clubs last season, that is, it is likely to follow the registration and playing rules of the local ordinary players, foreign aid transfers, naturalized players and U23 players in the 3rd professional league last season.
Affected by the epidemic, the Preparatory Group of the Chinese Football Association and the China Football Federation has not yet officially announced the schedule and format of the domestic professional leagues at all levels in the new season. But specific preparations have already begun quietly. In the preparation of various leagues, the design of the promotion and relegation system, the registration of players and the transfer method are of great interest, so they have attracted much attention from many parties.
Last season, affected by the epidemic, the schedule of the Chinese Super League was greatly compressed, and the format also followed the centralized system of the games launched at the beginning of the 2020 season, which brought a lot of pressure and difficulties to the preparation and competition work of various clubs. Since the "2022 season expansion of the Chinese Super League" is already in the planned list and cannot be changed arbitrarily, the organizers of the event have decided to set a "0.5+0.5" relegation quota for the Chinese Super League last season after comprehensive consideration of various factors. In this way, the competitive pressure of Chinese Super League clubs due to practical difficulties is alleviated as much as possible.
However, in the eyes of the majority of professional practitioners, a mature professional football event needs to have many "elements". In addition to the home-and-away format, a reasonable relegation system is also essential. After the expansion to 18 teams, the new season of the Chinese Super League needs to return to the normal track in terms of implementing the rules of the competition. In this case, it has become the consensus of all parties to increase the number of relegation places in the Chinese Super League in the new season and encourage leagues at all levels to participate in a positive posture.
It is reported that the Preparatory Group of the Chinese Football Association and the China Football Federation confirmed that the relegation places of the Chinese Super League in the new season will be increased to 2 or 3 after repeated communication according to the results of the survey. There is no concept of "0.5" for specific places, which actually means that the new season will not reproduce the promotion and relegation play-offs of the Chinese Super League and the Chinese League A. This is because the organizers of the event do not want to reduce the chances of promotion of middle and low-level teams due to the holding of "play-offs", thereby discouraging their enthusiasm for achieving good results and creating alternative injustices.
As for how many relegation places will be set in the new season of the Chinese Super League? The Chinese Football Association and the Preparatory Group of the China Football Federation had previously proposed "2" or "3" plans. Judging from the current communication situation, the "3 places" plan is closer to being adopted. In the view of the organizers, this scheme is more common in international professional football, which is more consistent with the scale of participation of the league's 18 teams.
Affected by the fact that the competition plan of the third-level professional league has not yet been finalized, the Chinese Football Association has not yet issued a notice on matters related to the registration and transfer of clubs in the 2022 season of the Chinese Super League, The Chinese First Division and the Chinese Second Division. However, with April 23 as the starting time of the new season of the Chinese Super League, the window for the transfer of domestic professional football will most likely open from mid-March to mid-April. The specific registration and transfer methods have also been designed.
The content of the plan shows that the registration and transfer methods, foreign aid policies, and U23 local player registration and playing methods of local ordinary players in the Chinese Super League, China League A and China Second League in the new season remain unchanged. For example, in the new season, each club in the Chinese Super League can transfer up to 8 domestic players without age restrictions during the two transfer windows of this year, and the number of such players transferred by the Chinese First Division and The Chinese Second Division clubs is not limited.
In terms of foreign aid policy, if the established rules are confirmed, then the Chinese Super League will continue to adopt the "7654" foreign aid policy in the new season. That is to say, each club can register up to 7 foreign aides in a single season (two transfer window periods), register up to 6 foreign aides at the same time, register up to 5 foreign aides in a single game, and up to 4 foreign aides in a single game. Although the AFC has recently officially announced that the number of foreign aides from the participating clubs in the AFC Champions League will be increased to 6 in the future, the Chinese Super League does not currently have the conditions to "closely follow the AFC policy". From the perspective of Yatai's withdrawal, several representative teams in the Chinese Super League have chosen "strategic abandonment" for the AFC Champions League this season. Therefore, adjusting the foreign aid policy has no practical significance for the chinese Super League in the new season.
If the established rules are confirmed, then the number of U23 local players registered in the new season of the Chinese Super League clubs will remain unrestricted, but each team will still ensure at least one U23 local player on the field in each game (except in the case where the relevant U23 player is ordered to play with a red card).
As for the rules for naturalized players, if the established rules are followed, the clubs of the Chinese Super League in the new season will still implement the relevant contents of the "Notice on the Adjustment of the Professional League Policy for the 2020 Season" announced on December 31, 2019. That is to say, naturalized players with Chinese ancestry will be regarded as ordinary local players, and their registration and transfer are based on the relevant rules of ordinary local players; if the naturalized player does not have Chinese ancestry, then only if one of the relevant conditions is met, it is possible to implement the registration and registration of the new season as a domestic player, and each Chinese Super League club can only register a maximum of 1 non-Chinese naturalized player according to the domestic player standard. There are 2 conditions that need to be met for this type of player. One is to have been naturalized for 5 years; the other is to have the official qualification for the national team.
Although the relevant rules are still subject to official final confirmation. However, judging from the previous preparatory work and communication of the Chinese Football Association and the Preparatory Group of the China Football Federation, it is an important goal of its specific work to ensure the rationality, standardization and seriousness of the league system to the greatest extent possible so as to maintain the health and stability of the league. In the context of economic difficulties encountered by professional leagues at all levels, if the registration and transfer methods can remain unchanged, it will also expand the career choice space for the majority of professional players, and at the same time help alleviate the operational pressure of clubs.
Text/Beiqing Sports Xiao Zhao