According to the original plan, the Tianjin Jinmen Tigers training in Shanghai will not be until the 23rd of this month, but with the recent changes in the prevention and control of the epidemic in Shanghai, the team has decided to end the training in Shanghai and return to Tianjin early. At present, Tianjin fans are undoubtedly most concerned about the situation of the team's new signings, although the current Intention of the Jinmen Tigers has not yet appeared, but Wang Qiuming and Yang Fan, two players who returned to the Jinmen Tigers, have quickly integrated into the team, and some potential young players have also been favored by the coaching staff. At the same time, Cai Huikang and Zhang Wei, two players of the Shanghai Harbor Team, have also trained with the Tianjin Tigers for a period of time, but Cai Huikang will not return to Tianjin with the team due to injury.
Just as the reinforcement work of the Jinmen Tigers in the new season was carried out step by step, late at night on March 14, the Chinese Football Association released the "Notice of the Chinese Football Association on the Relevant Matters Concerning the Transfer Registration of Players of the Chinese Super League, the Chinese First Division and the Chinese Second Division in the 2022 Season" on its official website, and the time of the transfer window of the Chinese Professional Football League, which has been postponed several times, has finally been clarified - the first transfer window of the new season of the Chinese Super League and the Chinese First Division is from March 15 to April 15, 2022, and the second transfer window is tentatively scheduled for August 1 to August 2022 31 days. It is particularly noteworthy that compared with last year, the biggest change in the transfer policy of the Chinese Professional Football League in the new season is that there is no quota limit for newly transferred domestic players from the Chinese Super League, Chinese League A and Chinese Second Division clubs, which is also the first time in the Chinese transfer market for many years that the transfer quota limit has been completely abolished. By applying the new policy to the Jinmen Tigers, the club can not only introduce excellent players as much as possible to enhance the strength of the team, but also introduce more young players to lay a solid foundation for the future.
In fact, there have been some indications before that this year's Chinese professional league transfer policy will be different from previous years, because according to the German transfer market China administrator Zhu Yi's revelations, this is already the third postponement of the Transfer Window of the Chinese Professional League, and every time the Chinese Football Association postpones the transfer window, it seems that a new league policy is brewing. Since the Chinese Super League achieved the New Year's Eve for the first time last season, the Chinese Football Association postponed the transfer window to January 17 at the beginning of the year, which is the next Monday after the super play-offs, which is also the only time that the Football Association has clarified the opening time of the transfer window. However, on January 22, Zhu Yifa said that the transfer window of the Chinese Super League was postponed again, from January 17 to February 14. Since no official news has been released, there is widespread speculation that this may be related to the fact that the league will not start until late April.
On February 14, Zhu Yi posted again that the transfer window of the Chinese Super League could not be opened on time, and it may be delayed until March 14. According to media speculation, the postponement of the transfer window is likely to be the imminent implementation of a new round of salary restrictions that were rumored at the time. However, until now, the strictest salary restriction in the history of "local players with a maximum salary of 3 million before tax" has not landed.
On the day of March 13, Zhu Yi posted another blog saying that the transfer window will be postponed again, and it may be delayed until March 20. In Zhu Yi's view, "this is likely to be a delay to ensure access", after all, if the club's access has not been completed, the validity of the player's contract cannot be guaranteed.
However, in less than a day, the Chinese Football Association announced that the transfer window would open on March 15, which was only one day later than the original plan. It is not difficult to see that the club's access should not be the fundamental reason for the FA's postponement of the transfer window, after all, if this work is still unfinished, it is impossible to solve it in just one day. And according to the previous report of the "Football" newspaper, the Football Association intends to relax the club access standards and set a certain buffer period for the clubs that owe wages.
1. The 2022 season is set as a buffer year. This season's access review is on the net, and clubs need to use this season's precious time to solve the problem of unpaid wages as soon as possible.
Second, the 2023 season of access review: if the previous problem of wage arrears is not only not solved, but also in the 2022 season there is a phenomenon of wage arrears again, then the admission will be disqualified; if the previous problem of wage arrears is not solved, but there is no more wage arrears in the 2022 season, then the league will deduct 6 points (or other points).
Third, the 2024 season of the access review, as long as there is still unpaid wages, disqualification.
Therefore, compared with the postponement of the transfer window in order to ensure the access of clubs, the Decision of the Football Association to abolish the transfer quota restriction in the new season after reaching a consensus with the clubs is more in line with the actual situation. In fact, from the perspective of the transfer policy of the new season in 2022, there is not much difference from the 2021 season version, and the most significant difference is that each club in the Chinese Super League in the 2021 season 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 is not limited. However, in the new season, the quota for players transferred to Chinese Super League clubs is also gone. As for why there is such a change in the transfer policy, it is likely to be directly related to the fact that some Chinese Super League clubs are currently in deep economic crisis and the situation of wage arrears is serious.
At present, many Chinese Super League teams have launched intensive training, but like hebei teams and Chongqing Liangjiang Athletics, which were in deep financial crisis before, they have not yet received leave. Compared with the heavy foot, the situation of the Hebei team seems to be more critical, and there are rumors that the Hebei team in the new season is likely to follow the guangzhou team operation model, dismiss all veterans and high-paid players, and the team will play the Chinese Super League in the new season mainly with young players.
In addition, the recent storm of wage arrears in Shenzhen Football Club seems to have intensified, and there are even rumors that Dai Weijun sent a lawyer's letter to Shenzu on the grounds of unpaid wages, and applied to the Football Association to restore his free body. According to the Guangdong media "New Express" report, Shenzu, who hopes to alleviate financial burdens, is currently seeking to rebuild the team, and the team said that it can be released for players who intend to transfer and leave the team.
Dai Weijun
It can be seen that after the transfer window is opened, whether it is actively seeking transfers or restoring freedom due to unpaid arbitration, there will definitely be a large number of local players pouring into the transfer market. In terms of the current living environment of Chinese football, there are only a few clubs that can operate stably without pay arrears, which means that in the case of unlimited transfer places in the new season, with the introduction of the "strictest salary restriction order in history", these well-financed clubs can absorb as many outstanding players in the transfer market as possible; but at the same time, because of the limited number of team registration places, these clubs must also terminate some of their own players accordingly. It is expected that in the next month's transfer period, an extremely rare wave of local players will be linked up in the Chinese Super League, the Chinese First Division and the Chinese Second Division Professional League, and even in a sense, the Chinese Third Division Professional League will complete a reshuffle.
On the positive side, in the face of the embarrassing situation that a large number of players may not have the ball to play, the Football Association abolished the transfer quota limit and introduced an enhanced salary restriction order, the purpose of which is to broaden the career space of players and help them re-employment while respecting the rights and interests of clubs and players, while alleviating the operational pressure of clubs with financial difficulties, so as to strive for the smooth and orderly development of the league in the new season.
But fundamentally, this is only a solution to the problem of player employment, and unpaid wages is the core contradiction of Chinese football at present. It is gratifying that for a long time in the past, the reform of mixed ownership of clubs has been promoting the work, which is undoubtedly the efforts made by relevant departments and the Football Association to completely solve this problem, and only when the clubs achieve financial health can China's professional football league truly get on the right track.