The East Stand | Chinese Super League’s ‘New Deal’ failed at Tokyo 2020, now eyes Paris 2024
- Under-23 rules did not help China qualify for Summer Games, with team having worst AFC U23 Championship yet
- The foreigner salary cap and under-21 quota risk sending league backwards rather than boosting domestic talent
The Chinese Super League has unveiled new rules for the new season and it is more of the same. They have kept the under-23 rule, tweaking it to just one player on the pitch at all times, and introduced new rules regarding under-21s.
At least three of the squad have to be domestic under-21s who have been training at the club for more than four years. They don’t need to play.
As was made clear in the Under-23 New Deal, as the policy was named when it was introduced in 2017, the league’s main purpose is the development of young players.
The new under-21 rules have some people suggesting that after missing out on Tokyo 2020, the CFA is already focusing on qualifying for Paris 2024 while the Asian qualifiers for this summer’s Olympic Games are still being decided.
What’s more interesting is this under-23 squad were the first to benefit from the New Deal and they left Thailand with China’s worst record at an AFC Under-23 Championship – no points and no goals, the first time they have failed to score.