At last week’s Chinese Professional Football League’s 2018 review meeting, the Chinese Football Association announced a new regulation requiring all Chinese Super League football clubs to have a women’s team playing in the Chinese Women’s Super League, China Women’s League One or the China Women’s League Two. China League One clubs who want to win promotion to the CSL should also have a women’s team. The requirement is not mandatory yet, but the CFA says that it will become mandatory in the future. 

This new requirement is widely considered to be helpful and beneficial to the development of professional women’s football in China. 

The new regulation also demands that the annual investment for each CSL club’s women’s team should be between CNY15m and CNY30m. It will help guarantee that women’s teams have sufficient funds and to ensure more balanced financial support between teams, as currently, the financial status varies between each women’s teams. Some teams receive a few million yuan per year, but others can easily attract more than CNY30m annually. With this new regulation in place, the situation is expected to be much better. 

Currently, there are 16 women’s teams entered in the Chinese Women’s Super League and the China Women’s League One, 8 teams in each league. There are however 16 clubs in the Chinese Super League. To meet this new requirement, some Chinese Super League and China League One clubs may need to collaborate with these women’s teams in addition to forming new teams. 

Reference: Huanqiu 

Proofread by Raymond Fitzpatrick