The Chinese Football Association issued the "Notice on Organizing and Carrying out the Registration of the U17 Group and U19 Group of College Age of the Third China Youth Football League" yesterday, which mentions: Young players from Hong Kong, Macao SAR and Taiwan and foreign youth players can register for the competition, and there is no quota limit.
According to relevant media reports, this initiative is due to the successful holding of the past two Youth Championships, which has made the domestic school teams of all corresponding ages, especially some international schools, very eager to participate. Therefore, the organizers of the event decided to adjust the registration method, hoping to improve the wide range of participants in the event through "expanding enrollment", so as to improve the competitive quality of the competition.
The regional qualifiers for the U17 category of the 3rd China Youth Championship are scheduled to start in mid-March and end in late May. The top 24 teams in the U17 category of the 2nd China Youth Championship do not need to participate in the regional qualifiers and directly advance to the first stage of the national finals. The National Finals stage is scheduled to take place from July to November. The planned start time of the U19 category has not yet been announced.
Whenever we talk about the development of Chinese football, we can't avoid the progress of youth football and the improvement of the competition system. Lifting the restrictions on the number of Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan players and foreign players in the two groups of the Chinese Youth Championship will inevitably improve the quality of the competition and promote healthy competition among players. But it is also necessary to consider whether this will lead to the loss of young players, and the already unimpressive player base will be reduced again. The pros and cons of this change need to be tested in practice.