Kicking off a new chapter

Youth focus

Ensuring more playing time for young talent and developing youth training are key elements of the plan.

CSL teams will be required to register at least three under-21 players in their 2020 season squads; in the second and third tiers that quota is set at two and five respectively.

In the top tiers, teams will be required to have at least one under-23 player on the pitch during games, while it will be necessary for third-tier sides to field at least one under-21 player.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Education, says that efforts to invigorate soccer in schools are starting to pay off.

Over the last five years, a total of 27,059 primary and middle schools have provided at least one soccer class each week for over 20 million students, according to the ministry.

Thirty-eight pilot zones for school soccer reform have been established, and 160 counties or districts have been selected as pilot areas for promoting soccer on campus.

Another 3,000 kindergartens will be selected as youth soccer hubs by the end of next year as the authorities seek to nurture more talent from an early age.

"We've made some progress in terms of youth soccer in schools for the past five years, but generally speaking, the number of students who actually play soccer is still very limited," said Wang Dengfeng, head of the ministry's department of physical, health and arts education.

"Playing soccer is not just for those who want to become professional athletes－anyone can take it up. And for kids it can be very beneficial for their health and overall development."

The Ministry of Education also revealed last month that, from 2015-18, China completed the construction and renovation of 32,432 soccer pitches in schools.

An additional 28,545 pitches are expected to be completed by the end of this year. As of September 2018, a total of 120,960 pitches have been built in schools of all levels across the country.

"Any country that is strong at soccer starts training early and has a strict talent selection process," said Li Chunman, deputy director of the National Campus Soccer Expert Committee.

"Based on the current situation of our country, we should establish a comprehensive youth training system. We should focus more on high-quality campus soccer training in the longer term."

CSL excitement

The CSL served up plenty of excitement last season, with fans gripped by a dramatic three-way title race that went right down to the wire.

Guangzhou Evergrande emerged victorious on the final day of the season to depose Shanghai SIPG and win a record-extending eighth CSL crown ahead of runner-up Guo'an.

According to the league's online rights holder, PP Sports, all 240 of last season's CSL games were viewed a total of 1.59 billion times on all platforms－a 12.1 percent increase on the previous campaign.

Evergrande featured in all of the top five most-watched games, with its 3-1 August victory over Guo'an in Beijing top of that list with over 32 million views online. A bumper 57,000-plus crowd watched the action inside the capital's Workers' Stadium.

Dalian Yifang boasted the "most local" fan base last term, with 23 percent of its official supporters' group hailing from the Liaoning province city, according to PP Sports.

Yifang's late-season slump under coach Rafa Benitez made it the most-talked-about CSL team online. Dalian received the highest number of online comments－280 million－below videos of their matches last season.

Of all the city's without a topflight team, Hangzhou in Zhejiang province has the highest number of CSL fans, accounting for 3.4 percent of the league's nationwide total.