On March 29, the Chinese Football Association (CFA) announced on their official website the licence requirements for professional clubs to compete in the 2019 Chinese Super League (CSL) and the second-tier league, China League One (CL).

According to the association’s statement, clubs who competed in the 2018 CSL season, CL or the third-tier league China League Two (C2L) can now submit their application for the 2019 CSL or CL. However, they have to meet the licensing requirements set out by the CFA by October 2018. 

For those clubs who have competed in the 2018 CSL and CL and intend to apply for the next season’s CSL or CL, the CFA requires that each club to have one first team and one reserve team.

Meanwhile, each club must have no less than 5 youth teams at different age groups – U19, U17, U15, U14 and U13 teams.

When it comes to clubs playing in C2L and want to apply for the 2019 C2L, the CFA has removed the requirement of a reserve team for these clubs. The number of youth team each club should have is reduced to 4 age groups – U17, U15, U14 and U13.

The deadline for the clubs to submit their 2019 CSL and CL applications to the CFA has been set for April 10, 2018. 

Source: CFA

Proofread by Raymond Fitzpatrick