Kicking off a new chapter

Clubs in agreement that new salary cap and foreign-player regulations spell brighter future for Chinese game

Chinese soccer chiefs hope the introduction of a foreign-player salary cap and new regulations on imported and naturalized stars will foster better conditions for the next generation of domestic talent to thrive.

The Chinese Football Association last week published details of the new measures which were agreed with clubs at a December meeting in Beijing.

According to the CFA, the salaries of foreign players will be capped at 3 million euros ($3.3 million) after tax, applying to contracts signed from Jan 1 this year.

The cap is expected to significantly curb the influx of expensive imports to the Chinese Super League, which for many observers has been detrimental both to the development of domestic talent and the financial health of clubs.

From now on, CSL clubs will be permitted to register six foreign players per season, but only five of those can be used in match-day squads and just four can be on the pitch at any one time.

The restrictions will not apply to naturalized players so long as one of his biological parents or grandparents was born in China. A naturalized player who has been selected for the national team may also be exempt from the foreign quota－although clubs can only apply this classification to one player. Guangzhou Evergrande and Team China's Brazil-born striker Ai Kesen (aka Elkeson) would meet this criterion, for example.

The salary cap for domestic players will remain at 10 million yuan ($1.43 million) before tax, or 12 million yuan for China internationals.

Clubs will not be permitted to spend more than 1.1 billion yuan on their operations annually, with salaries not to exceed 60 percent of that amount. In 2021, that limit will drop to 900 million yuan, with salaries not exceeding 55 percent.

It is hoped that by keeping domestic players' wages in check, more might be encouraged to test themselves in major foreign leagues. At the moment, Wu Lei is the only Chinese player plying his trade in one of the world's top leagues－with Espanyol in Spain's La Liga.