Late on Wednesday night, the Chinese Football Association (CFA) released details of two new rules that the Chinese Super League (CSL) must follow. Both rules are significant and have immediate consequences, not just for Chinese football, but for the global transfer market. Let’s break down the what and the why of Chinese football’s latest brainwaves, before examining what consequences are likely.
Chinese football is no stranger to controversy and those in charge don’t always handle things well – from handing out widely inconsistent bans for similar incidents to radically changing the league’s transfer policy in the middle of a transfer window, fans have come to expect the unexpected. Even so, the CFA‘s twin edicts – issued at 9:56pm and 10:01pm on Wednesday night – came from way, way out of left field.
In a nutshell, here’s what they said:
Starting from the summer transfer window (i.e. immediately), any club that is “in debt” – presumed to be all clubs in the league – must pay into a development fund a sum equivalent to the transfer fee paid for any new foreign signing. In other words, pay Chelsea $50m for Diego Costa and you must also pay an additional $50m into the fund.
Clubs in the top two divisions must, from the start of next season, play as many U23 Chinese players as foreigners in any one match. It’s presumed that you can play more U23s if you want, but few, if any, teams are likely to do this.