first time, beating Flamengo 1-0
in the Final.
HOLLAND: Ajax defender Daley
Blind is diagnosed with a heart
condition after suffering dizziness
during his side’s Champions League
game with Valencia.
ITALY: At 17, Sebastiano Esposito
becomes Internazionale’s youngest
scorer in more than 60 years as his
side win 4-0 against Genoa.
Sunday December 22
GERMANY: Bayern Munich
announce Hansi Flick, who became
interim coach on November 3, will
remain in charge “at least until the
end of the season”.
ITALY: Italian Cup winners Lazio
beat league champions Juventus
3-1 to win the Italian Super Cup
in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
MALAWI: Zimbabwean coach
Callisto Pasuwa wins his sixth
league title on the trot as Big
Bullets claim the Super League
with a 2-0 victory over TN Stars.
Pasuwa won four successive league
championships in his homeland
before taking the national job and
then joining Bullets late last season.
Monday December 23
ERITREA: For the second time thisyear, players representing Eritrea go
missing while on international duty.
Seven of the squad that finished
runners-up in the CECAFA Senior
Challenge Cup in Uganda fail to
return home, after five players fled
from their hotel during October’s
CECAFA Under-20 Challenge Cup.
GREECE: The home of the video
assistant referee is attacked just
hours after Olympiakos have a goal
ruled out by VAR in their 0-0 draw
with Volos.
Saturday December 28
SAUDI ARABIA: Abderrazak
Hamdallah’s hat-trick for Al Nassragainst Al Feiha in the Saudi Pro
League sees him become the
world’s top scorer of 2019, ending
the year with 57 goals in all
competitions, beating Bayern
Munich’s Robert Lewandowski who
scored 54 and Barcelona’s Lionel
Messi who got 50.
Monday December 30
GUINEA: Alfred Kargbo and
Aboubacar Camara of top-flight
side Wakriya are killed, along with
the driver, after the club’s team
bus crashes into a stationary truck
late at night on the journey back
from a 2-1 defeat away to leagueNew year, new rules
CFA introduces new regulations on foreign players
t wouldn’t be a new year without
some new rules introduced by the
Chinese Football Association (CFA)- although this time there is more
support for the changes than has
been the case in the past.
The big one is the introduction of a salary cap, but
the number of foreign players allowed to sign and
play for clubs has also been tweaked again, this time
in an upwards direction. For the 2020 season, clubs
can have six overseas players on their books, five in
the matchday squad and four on the pitch at any
given time – which is up from three last year.
This puts the Chinese Super League in line with
much of Asia, though one
of the spots is not reserved
exclusively for an Asian player.
According to the Chinese
media, this means there will be
more Asians – usually South
Koreans, with a smattering of
Uzbeks and Australians – on
the shopping list of clubs as they are cheaper.
And price is going to be more of an issue for clubs
as the authorities look to stop the financial losses and
introduce some semblance of sustainability.
The huge spending spree that started in earnest
back in 2011 – and brought in world-famous coaches
such as Marcello Lippi, Felipe Scolari and Fabio
Capello, along with top stars such as Paulinho, Carlos
Tevez and Didier Drogba – has slowed in recent
years. This is partly the result of a “transfer tax” that
forced clubs buying a foreign player to pay the same
amount as the transfer fee into a central pool.
There is no doubt that Beijing is concerned about
the massive amounts of money leaving the country to
line the pockets of clubs, players and agents around
Europe and South America. So the authorities are
once again trying to limit spending, with CFA chairman
Chen Xuyuan explaining: “Our clubs had too much
money burned and our professional football has not
been run in a sustainable way. If we don’t take timely
action, I fear it will collapse.”
Starting with the 2020 season, Chinese Super
League teams will not be able to spend more
than 1.1billion yuan (€143million) a year or more than
60 per cent of their total outlay on salaries. At an
individual level, for new signings in 2020 and beyond,
domestic players can be paid, after tax, no more than
10m yuan (€1.3m), though national-team players can
receive 20 per cent more. Foreigners will have asalary limit of around €3m a year.
The reaction so far has been fairly favourable as
there was a growing concern at clubs, both big and
small, that the spending was all a bit too much.
“Having a salary cap can help teams develop more
sustainably,” says Li Ming, general manager of Beijing
Guoan. “Regulations are necessary in a professional
environment. The Chinese Football Association really
values our opinions. They spent all day with us
discussing how to make this new policy viable.”
With bonuses not yet covered in the cap, it remains
to be seen how tightly these new stipulations are
enforced. Chinese organisations and companies are
adept at quickly finding out just how far rules can be
pushed. And if there are big stars willing to come to“Our professional football has not been
run in a sustainable way. If we don’t take
timely action, I fear it will collapse”
CFA chairman Chen XuyuanExpensive...
Shanghai SIPG’s
Hulk (right)I
China