[article]China has cut the number of foreign footballers allowed to play in each match from four to three per team as it seeks to boost development of domestic players and rein in excessive spending by clubs, which has distorted the global transfer market and added to fears about capital outflows.
The nation’s top sports administration body warned this month that it would take action to reduce spending on foreign players, after clubs in the top-tier Chinese Super League embarked on an unprecedented transfer binge over the past two years.
The acquisition of players was just one part of a multibillion-dollar surge of investment into Chinese football, with Chinese companies also buying top European clubs and media rights agencies after President Xi Jinping set out a plan to turn China into a respected footballing nation.
The restriction on foreign players comes amid a wider crackdown on overseas acquisitions and other forms of capital outflow, which is designed to shield the renminbi from downward pressures.
Several signings during the current transfer window smashed already-high records ahead of the start of the new season in March.
Among the deals, Shanghai SIPG bought Brazilian midfielder Oscar from Chelsea for $63m, and Shanghai Greenland Shenhua, a local rival, signed a two-year contract with Argentine striker Carlos Tévez, in which his salary was reported to be worth more than $20m per season.
Mauricio Pochettino, manager of Tottenham Hotspur, an English Premier League club, this weekend warned that Chinese clubs seemed to have “broken” the international market for players by paying too much.
Rules released by the Chinese football association on Sunday cap the number of foreign players per team per match at three and require every team to have at least one Chinese player under 23 on the pitch.
The Chinese FA said the measures would ensure “better overall development of Chinese football and better training for local Chinese players”, while helping to “elevate the level of the national team and to maintain the healthy, stable and sustainable development of the professional league”.
It said it would take further steps to curb “irrational investment and high payment for domestic and international players’ transfer fees and salaries”.
The proposed measures include new financial standards for clubs, third-party auditing and a clampdown on illegal signing-on fees.
Cameron Wilson, who runs a website focused on Chinese football from Shanghai, said that new rules were “a reaction to the huge monies lavished on the likes of Oscar” and reflected concerns about capital outflows “with money leaving China in such a public manner”.
He said the impact on the global transfer market would be limited because
China had already restricted teams to four foreign players per game, of which one had to be Asian. Clubs will still be allowed five foreign players in their match-day squad but only three can participate.
Mr Wilson added that the crackdown underlined the extent of Chinese government control over the Super League, which is technically an independent body.
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https://www.ft.com/content/68314de2-db9a-11e6-9d7c-be108f1c1dce
