Since the AFC Champions League has been changed to a New Year's Eve format, the AFC Champions League, which was supposed to be held in 2023, has been revised to the 2023-2024 AFC Champions League, so the Chinese football community is also thinking about whether the competition system should be modified to cater to the AFC.
China is located in East Asia, and the current leagues of China, Japan and South Korea are not New Year's Eve. But Japan is ready to move, and they have decided to switch to the New Year's Eve system. Because Japanese football has been encouraging foreign players to stay in Europe for many years, it is more beneficial for their players to stay abroad in line with the mainstream European competition system.
The Chinese football community is not currently thinking about staying abroad, because the current level of Chinese players is not enough to attract the attention of mainstream European leagues. At present, the discussion is more about the AFC Champions League, and they believe that changing the Chinese Super League to a cross-year system will help Chinese Super League clubs compete in the AFC Champions League.
At present, the AFC Champions League has not only revised the schedule and format, but more importantly, it has revised the restrictions on foreign aid, and from the 2024-2025 season, foreign aid will no longer be restricted. That is to say, if a club is very rich, it can buy more than 20 high-level foreign players to participate in the AFC Champions League.
Judging from the current financial resources of the Chinese Super League clubs, it is obvious that the AFC Champions League cannot compete with countries like Saudi Arabia, because it is currently a national act to vigorously increase the influence of football. At present, China is more concerned about economic development, and there is no need to blindly burn money on football, so the AFC Champions League should not be taken too seriously in the next few years.
Although Saudi Arabia is willing to burn money, anyone with a discerning eye can see that this money-burning model is difficult to sustain, because it actually violates the law of football development. Although Saudi Arabia is relatively rich, it is not rich to the point where the money cannot be spent, Saudi Arabia has a poor natural environment, and many people do not have a high quality of life, and the money burned on football will be better if it is used for domestic construction.
The biggest problem in Chinese football at present is the problem of youth training, which is slow to produce results and requires long-term persistence to achieve results. If the youth training bears fruit, the domestic league will naturally prosper. It can be imagined that if in the future, in various youth competitions in Asia, the national brand can always score in the top four, then the confidence of fans will naturally rise, and the interest of various enterprises to invest in football will naturally rise.
But the current situation of Chinese football is that the senior team is not good, and the youth team is also not good, and no one can see hope. At this time, there is no point in the league to modify the competition system, and the implementation of the New Year's Eve system will also have many drawbacks, the biggest problem is that the stadiums in the north are not suitable for the game in winter.
Many fans will say that European clubs will also play in the winter, but this does not mean that the European format is correct. Because many countries in Europe have cold winters and not hot summers, it would be better if their league was changed to a natural year. However, modern football originated in Europe, and they have long been accustomed to this New Year's Eve format, and it is natural for them to become accustomed to it, and it is difficult to change.
For Chinese football, the league that does not celebrate the New Year's Eve has long been a habit, and there is no need to change, at least for now. At present, the survival of China's professional clubs is a major issue, and the Football Association should try not to toss.