CFA to rule on five clubs' eligibility for Chinese leagues membership

BEIJINGb- The Chinese Football Association (CFA) is expected to rule in a few days on the eligibility of one second-tier and four third-tier professional clubs to attend this season's Chinese football leagues.

The CFA, which announced last October that failure to pay salaries on time would result in disqualification from the following season's professional leagues, asked the five clubs of Liaoning Hongyun, Zibo Sunday, Yunnan Kunlu, Hunan Billows and Baoding Yingli Yitong to submit documents to prove they had paid their players and coaching staff's salaries in full before last Friday.

"We are reviewing the documents these clubs turned in, and the rulings could be made in a few days," a CFA source told Xinhua on Monday.

Liaoning FC, the only second-tier club of the five, was reported to have fallen short of supplying the requested documents.

"Liaoning FC submitted some documents without the most important one proving the salaries had been paid. If the CFA enforces the membership requirements strictly, Liaoning will in no way get the eligibility to attend this season's leagues," Soccer News reported on Monday.

Several Liaoning FC players have threatened to take legal actions against the debt-ridden Shenyang-based club over their unpaid salaries.

Their captain Sang Yifei revealed that he and his teammates received no salary for the whole 2019 season.

"The players got no money for the whole year, but it is true that the club had no money to give us," he wrote on Weibo, China's Twitter-like social media platform.