China to restrict number of foreigners clubs can field per game

SHANGHAI - China will tighten rules over the number of overseas players able to appear in domestic games, amid concerns that clubs have been over-spending on foreign talent with a rapid growth in the huge fees being paid for high-profile imports.

Clubs in the country’s top leagues would be limited to fielding a maximum of three foreign players per game for the 2017 season, down from the current five, China’s Football Association (CFA) said in a statement on Monday (Jan 16).

The CFA said it would also be taking action to curb the “recent appearance of irrational investments and the payment of high transfer fees and salaries for domestic and foreign footballers.”

China last month broke the Asian transfer record for the fifth time in a year when Shanghai SIPG paid Chelsea €60 million (S$91 million) for Brazilian midfielder Oscar.

At the same time across the city, Shanghai Shenhua were reportedly making Argentina’s former Manchester United and Manchester City striker Carlos Tevez the world’s highest-salaried player.

The two were the latest in a stream of foreign players flowing into China in recent years in return for eye-watering sums. Chelsea’s unsettled Brazil-born Spain striker Diego Costa has also reportedly been linked to a big-money bid from Jiangsu Suning in recent days.

However, the drive has prompted fierce criticism from officials and local media, with Xinhua saying earlier this month that clubs were “burning money” on overpaid foreign talent and neglecting the development of domestic players.

Teams can currently have three foreign players plus one Asian player on the field at any one time, a system referred to as the “3+1” rule. A fifth foreign player can be used as a substitute as long as the “3+1” rule is maintained.

Clubs would still be able to register five foreign players in their overall squad, the CFA said, but the rule would mean not all could be used in any one game, a potential disincentive to loading a squad with international imports.

The CFA said in the statement that teams would also have to include two younger domestic players born in or after 1994 in their match-day squad, of whom one would have to start the game.

Chinese officials have also said clubs should impose salary caps and create special funds to develop home-grown talent.

“The FA will roll out a series of measures to regulate the operation and management of clubs in terms of irrational investment, and high transfer fees and wages for domestic and international players,” the body said, referring to clubs in the top Chinese Super League (CSL) and China League One.

Big business backers of CSL clubs, encouraged by football fan President Xi Jinping’s vision of China becoming one of the game’s superpowers, hosting and winning a World Cup, have splashed money on their teams alongside heavy investment in grass-roots development.

China, ranked 82nd in the world, punch well below their weight in international competition, having qualified only once for the World Cup finals, in 2002, where they failed to win a match or score a goal. AGENCIES