Sports
16:58, 04-Jan-2019
The Chinese Football Association makes women's teams mandatory for all clubs
Updated
16:56, 07-Jan-2019
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In order to revitalize the game at the domestic level, the Chinese Football Association (CFA) announced a slew of new rules on Thursday for the country's professional clubs.
As per the latest CFA order, all the clubs in the top flight, the Chinese Super League (CSL), are required to have a women's team as well. This new requirement will come into force starting in the 2019-20 season. Clubs without a women's team will not be allowed to play in the CSL.
In addition to this revolutionary move for gender-equality, the governing body of Chinese football has also made it mandatory that at least two players in each CSL club must be under 21, and the number of players under 21 should increase each year.
The CFA has also welcomed and encouraged cooperation by local and foreign clubs in building up international youth training bases.
The popular and top-tier CSL is played under the aegis of the CFA and the league is contested by 16 clubs in 240 matches of 30 rounds. Each season starts in March and ends in November.