Contracts frozen as players pay price for Team China's failings

The Chinese Football Association has imposed an immediate freeze on the contracts of domestic players as the governing body prepares to implement a raft of new salary-cap and transfer regulations in the offseason.

On Wednesday, a statement on the CFA's website demanded all clubs delay the signing of new contracts for domestic players in the Chinese game's top three tiers.

With public opinion incensed by the national team's continuing travails in World Cup qualifying, the CFA said the move was in the interests of all professional clubs and the healthy development of Chinese soccer.

"The new regulations are designed to promote the healthy development of Chinese domestic leagues, and plan to relieve clubs of debt and build a standardized salary system, transfer market, supervision system and youth training system," read the CFA statement.

"The CFA has undertaken substantial research and received suggestions from clubs and industry experts. A document entitled "Suggestions for Further Promoting the Development of Chinese Domestic Leagues", which will supplement, adjust and refine the current rules of the CFA, will be published in early December."

The final round of games in this season's top-tier Chinese Super League are due to be played on Dec 1.

Xinhua news agency reported that the contract freeze will not affect the upcoming winter transfer window and that a new, stricter salary cap will be enforced.

"A strict salary cap on domestic players, new policies on foreign players, naturalized players and player transfers will all be included in the new regulations," Xinhua reported. "More importantly, the CFA will strengthen supervision and punishment, so the cost of violations will increase."

Xinhua also reported that clubs had reached a consensus on reducing their debts and fortifying youth training. The report said that nearly a third of clubs had backlogs of unpaid wages, with even top-tier teams operating in an unsustainable financial bubble.

People's Daily delved deeper into the new plans, reporting on Wednesday that CSL players' salaries will be capped at 10 million yuan ($1.4 million). That will drop to 5 million yuan and 3 million yuan for second-and third-tier teams, respectively.

The plan has been warmly welcomed by fans on social media, whose disgruntlement at the wages earned by CSL stars has reached boiling point in the wake of Team China's 2-1 World Cup qualifying defeat to Syria earlier this month. The loss was a major blow to China's chances of reaching the 2022 finals in Qatar and prompted the resignation of head coach Marcello Lippi, who has been praised for saying he "didn't deserve" his reported salary of 18 million euros ($20 million).

The limp nature of that result in Dubai has heightened feelings that China's top soccer players are overpaid and lack motivation.

Star striker Wu Lei admitted Lippi's team "was not as hungry as the opponent", while Syria defender Ahmad Al Salih, who played for CSL side Henan Jianye in 2017, reinforced that notion in comments reported by Chinese media.

"Syrian players are more hungry, and their enthusiasm won't change because of the change of their income," said Al Salih.

"Chinese players live comfortable lives and they are easily satisfied. They lack the motivation to improve."

Those quotes set Chinese social media ablaze, with related news viewed around 120 million times by Thursday morning.

Relatively high CSL salaries are also perceived to dissuade young Chinese players from plying their trade abroad.

That's why, according to Xinhua, the new CFA regulations will also endeavor to encourage up-and-coming talent to venture to foreign leagues.

At the moment, Wu is the only Chinese international playing in a major top-flight foreign league.

Despite the current travails of his Spanish club Espanyol, which sits 18th in La Liga, Wu's experiences in Europe over the past year have helped his game, with the 27-year-old proving to be a rare shining light for Team China.

"In Spain, from amateurs to pros, from youth teams to first-tier teams, there are simply too many players," Wu wrote in his personal blog last week.

"Under the intense pressure of this competitive environment, everyone must maintain their momentum and sense of urgency, because your position can be taken by anyone at anytime, which is unthinkable in China. I tried my best in training for the past two weeks and earned my chance in the starting XI.

"I always keep my dreams and enjoy every training session and every minute playing in La Liga. When I see the kids in the stands, I always think about when I was their age. I used to be just like them watching the games of Atletico Madrid and Barcelona, and now I've played with stars like (Lionel) Messi. What a wonderful moment!"

Unfortunately, the current state of Chinese soccer suggests such wonderful moments will be few and far between for homegrown players in the coming years.