Whole new galaxy for young shooting stars

But under-23 competition is met with lukewarm response

Plans to launch a new national under-23 league in December have been met with a muted response from clubs, with many fearing they simply lack the numbers to contribute.

On Monday, the Chinese Football Association unveiled the league as its latest initiative to revive the fortunes of the national team, whose ongoing struggles have been underlined by a failure to find the net in its last three friendlies before Tuesday night's clash against Syria in Nanjing. Those blanks included a stalemate against 97th-ranked India last Saturday in Suzhou.

Clubs in the country's top three tiers have until Oct 25 to register for the competition. But with the CFA yet to clarify if participation is compulsory or not, it looks unlikely if teams will be in a rush to sign up.

As well as the under-23s, clubs will be allowed to register three over-23 players and can have six under-19s and two under-17s.

Squads must have at least 18 players, but no more than 30.

According to Nanfang Metropolis Daily, many clubs are not keen on the idea.

Guangzhou Evergrande, the reigning Chinese Super League champion, said it is discussing the possibility of joining the league, while Guangzhou R&F said it will not join, claiming the league is not compulsory.

There appears to be even less of an appetite for participation outside the CSL, with the newspaper quoting a senior figure at third-tier Shenzhen Ledman as saying: "We really do not want to join the new league because, compared to CSL and League One clubs, we really do not have enough players. I believe many of the third-tier teams are facing the same problem."

The CFA's determination to get the best out of the nation's young talent was recently highlighted by its move to pluck 55 under-25 players from CSL and League One clubs to participate in an ongoing military-style training camp, which is provisionally scheduled to end on Dec 28.

That has shorn CSL clubs of their top youngsters for the season run-in, with second-place Evergrande, for example, now without its young core players for its CSL title battle with leader Shanghai SIPG.

Tencent Sports reported the training squad has been split into eight groups, who will have to stay there for at least 40 days.

If performances are deemed to have fallen short of the required standard, the training could be prolonged.

Some players have already been relieved of the boot camp, with Zhang Xiuwei of Tianjin Quanjian and He Chao of Changchun Yatai joining Marcello Lippi's senior national squad for the India and Syria games.

Liu Yang of Shandong Luneng and Wei Shihao of Beijing Guo'an will reportedly train with the seniors in November ahead of January's Asian Cup in the United Arab Emirates.

Those players' availability for the under-23 league appears doubtful, as do members of Guus Hiddink's under-21 national squad, which is currently training in the Netherlands with the Dutch coach in a bid to boost qualification hopes for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

Hiddink told Dutch media recently that the CFA under-23 policy of providing players with a chance to play in every match has its merits. He also pointed out that coaching a foreign team is not an easy task, so selecting the right players within the tight time constraints of the job is vitally important.

It's not the first time the CFA's policy on under-23 players has made headlines.

Starting from this season, the number of under-23 Chinese players that teams play must at least equal the number of foreigners on the pitch. Teams also must have at least three under-23 players in their 18¬man lineups and must start at least one.

Statistically, the plan has yielded some success.

Up until the 25th round of the current CSL season, 102 under-23 players have gotten first-team minutes on the pitch, with 67 of those earning starting places.

In 2017, just 71 under-23 players played for their clubs.