Reporter Cheng Shan reported that on April 21, the General Administration of Sport issued the "Notice of the General Administration of Sport on Matters Related to the Arrangement of the Three Major Balls of the 2022 "Sports Cup" chinese city leagues" That were originally scheduled to start in May (hereinafter referred to as the City League) was postponed, and the full start will be at the end of 2022 or 2023 (depending on the epidemic situation).
The purpose of holding city leagues is to use the resources of the sports system to further enrich the Chinese football competition system, however, the city league and the Chinese professional football league seem to be more than just a complementary relationship, and have now shown signs of "fighting the ring" and competing for resources, in addition to the previously stipulated "promotion and promotion", "allow sponsors to be named" and "allow the introduction of foreign aid" and other measures are very close to professional leagues, the latest regulations "in accordance with the principle of cities with clubs are eligible to hold city leagues, There are also similarities in setting club access standards, and cities without clubs should gradually do a good job of club formation.
The Chinese professional football league, which has entered its 29th year, will undoubtedly have to face this challenge head-on, and where the Chinese football league system will go in the future is also worthy of attention and consideration.
Entering 2022, preparations for the City League have begun rapidly.
On January 7, the General Administration of Sport issued the Notice of the General Administration of Sport on Doing a Good Job in the Pre-registration of the Three Major Ball City Leagues of the "Sports General Cup", officially announcing the launch of the City League; on February 22, the General Office of the General Administration of Sport issued the "Notice of the General Office of the General Administration of Sport on the Relevant Matters Concerning the Three Major Ball Chinese City Leagues of the 2022 "Sports Cup" and the "2022 "Sports Cup" China City Football League Competition Regulations (Draft for Comment)", and the relevant measures of the city league also surfaced; on April 21, the General Administration issued the "Notice on the Relevant Matters of the Three Major Balls of the "Sports Cup" in China City League in 2022" and the "Regulations for the Competition of the 2022 "Sports Cup" China City Football League (Draft for Comments)", and the relevant measures of the city league also surfaced; on April 21, the General Administration issued the "Notice on the Relevant Matters of the Three Major Balls of the "Sports Cup" in China City League in 2022" and the "Regulations for the Competition of the 2022 "Sports Cup" China City Football League (Draft for Comment)", and the relevant measures of the city league also surfaced; on April 21, the General Administration once again Notice of the General Administration of Sport on Matters Related to the Arrangement of the Three Major Balls of the 2022 "Sports Cup" chinese city leagues.
According to the news, as of March 11, 182 prefecture-level cities (including autonomous prefectures, leagues, municipalities directly under the central government and their districts) in 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government have enthusiastically registered, and 461 teams have confirmed their participation.
The city league attracts so many teams to participate, which is a good thing for Chinese football, after all, Chinese football relies on the support of the Chinese Super League, the Chinese First Division and the Chinese Second Division professional league alone.
However, the professional tendency of the city league and the competition for resources are likely to bring a heavier blow to the Chinese professional football league.
At present, this professionalization tendency has four aspects.
The first is clubization. The club is the basis of the professional league, and the regulations at the beginning of the formation of the city league are: the city's self-built teams can participate, and the existing professional or semi-professional club teams can also participate, but there will be conditions attached. Club teams that have participated in the relevant leagues of the Chinese Football Association and other associations, such as participating in the City League, in addition to meeting the conditions for obtaining the qualification to participate, must issue a written commitment letter to the General Competition Committee of the Sports Federation to ensure that they will not withdraw from the league organized by the Chinese Football Association and other associations because of participating in the City Football League.
The latest regulations are: in accordance with the principle that only cities with clubs are eligible to hold city leagues, formulate club access standards, and cities without clubs should gradually do a good job in club formation. It's very clear about clubbing. Clubization and access criteria have undoubtedly formed the basis of professionalism.
The second is that clubs/teams allow sponsors to be named. The full name of the city team: city name + club name + title + "team", under the premise of complying with relevant regulations, each team can be increased or decreased according to the actual situation; the team is referred to as: city name + team name, in principle, the length shall not exceed eight words.
Speaking of which, this does not conflict with professional leagues, because professional league club names must be neutral, but the problem is that professional leagues are in trouble, and neutral names are one of the reasons, and now, city leagues allow sponsors to be named. For the pro league, this is likely to be a disruptive blow.
The third is to allow the use of foreign aid. The City League allows the use of foreign aid, limiting three people. However, the City League stipulates that active professional players registered with the relevant associations are excluded.
It seems that there is no conflict between the city league and the professional league, but in fact, this is also a prototype of the professionalization of the city league - with clubs, with sponsors, it is naturally very simple to bring in better foreign aid, and more local players will also make a living from it.
The fourth is the promotion and demotion system. The City League will have a promotion and relegation, which also lays the foundation for the transition to a professional league.
Initially, the city league was considered to be a tournament created by the sports system using its own resources, using the National Games platform to establish a "city team" on the basis of the previous establishment of the "provincial team" to provide a competitive platform for more football practitioners, so that there was no conflict between the city league and the professional league.
But now, the city league has gradually evolved into a league built using the resources of the sports system, with clubs, sponsors, allowing titles, allowing players to flow (currently fewer places), allowing foreign aid, and professional leagues are no longer fundamentally different, or that this is a league that is different from the football association and professional league system, and the league built by the sports system system is currently amateur, but has a professional prototype.
This means that professional leagues such as the City League and the Chinese Super League have basically stood in a ring, but the influence of the City League is still small.
As a result, the two leagues will clash fiercely in terms of resources: for local government support; for local sports system support; for sponsor support (state-owned enterprises and private enterprises), and eventually for fan support.
At present, the city league has become a professional league, and there is still a difficulty in legal theory, that is, China itself has three professional leagues in the Chinese Super League, the Chinese First Division and the Chinese Second Division, which have been recognized by FIFA and the AFC, and the Chinese Professional Football League has a natural professional league legal rationality. But in fact, if China's professional leagues continue to decline and urban leagues flourish with the support of local sports systems, it is not impossible to replace professional leagues.
In recent years, Chinese professional football league investors have not been able to get greater returns, league policies continue to change, lack of respect for investors, then, do not rule out some investors from the professional league withdrawal, switch to the city league, spend very little money can cooperate with the government, why not enjoy?
The only difficulty may be the emotions of fans, because many professional clubs such as Taishan, Guoan, Shenhua, Henan, Yatai, Guangzhou, Zhejiang, etc., have pinned on the emotions of fans for nearly three decades.
Therefore, the Chinese professional football league must be self-reliant, the problem is that the professional league has been too much trouble.
First, the professional league has been brewing for so many years, but it has not been established so far, and the professional league has not been fundamentally valued; second, the professional league is in trouble, not only the problem of the league itself, but also the multi-party finger-pointing and rough interference have seriously affected the development of the professional league; third, the operation of the professional league itself also has problems. For example, the Football Association often backfires, such as the referee management handed over to the Preparatory Group of the China Football Federation last year, and this year it will be withdrawn, and it will become a condominium under the pressure of public opinion, saying that the change will change; for example, all kinds of clubs that do not follow the rules and regulations, recently agreed to have a ban on the introduction of clubs, the international football team first arbitrates; previously turned a blind eye to tacit balls, etc., all of which seriously deplete the credibility of professional leagues.
The Chinese professional football league is no longer striving to be strong, and the complete dissipation in the future is not alarmist, and it is likely to be replaced by a city league after becoming bigger and stronger.
At present, the three professional leagues of the Chinese Super League, the Chinese First Division and the Chinese Second Division are theoretically managed by the Preparatory Group of the Chinese Football Federation, and the Chinese Champions League is managed by the Football Association, although the managers are different, they are all in the same league system; the city leagues are different, managed by the General Administration of Sports, and have nothing to do with the original league system.
However, the mature football league system of a country and region needs to be coordinated as a whole. In Spain, for example, they have a multi-tier league mechanism, which is uniform and orderly despite their different governing bodies: La Liga (tier 1) and La Liga (tier 2) are professional leagues managed by the Spanish Professional Football League; the Spanish Football Association (Tier 3), Tier 2 (Tier 4), and League C (Tier 5) are semi-professional leagues managed by the Spanish Football Association; Tier 6 to Tier 10 are regional leagues. These leagues have a well-established promotion and relegation system.
England has 11 league levels: the Premier League (tier 1) is managed by the FA Premier League Limited; the Championship (Tier 2), League A (Tier 3) and League 2 (Tier 4) are administered by the English Football Union; and the subsequent levels are administered by the FA and local FA, and there is also a well-established promotion and relegation system between them. As for South America, Brazil has two separate league systems, one national and one state, with no conflict between them and a completely staggered time.
The National League has two systems represented by India before, one is the Indian Football League, which was previously recognized by the AFC to participate in the AFC Champions League/AFC Cup; the other is the commercial Indian Super League, but in the 2019/20 season, Indian Premier League teams participated in the AFC Champions League, and the Indian Football League champions played the AFC Cup.
In the 2022/23 season, the Indian Premier League will become the only top league in India, and after two seasons of transition, the Indian Premier League and the First Division will be promoted and demoted in the 2024/25 season, and there will be no parallel top leagues.
For Chinese football, the city league is a new thing, and playing in the ring with the Chinese professional football league, of course, may also promote each other, but the competition for resources is easy to bring internal friction. At present, there are two ways, one is to strictly define the boundaries between each other, and the other is to integrate into a systematic league system.