The Beijing Youth Daily has revealed that the U21 Football League is set to undergo a major change, with the promotion and relegation system coming online and the number of places for promotion to the second division being reduced from the original two to one.
Since the 2021 season, the U21 League has been officially on the stage. Going into the 2023 season, all Chinese Super League teams are involved. Despite Shenzhen and Qingdao Sea Bulls dropping out of the tournament for some reason, many clubs such as Heilongjiang Bingcheng and Guangxi Pingguo Hahong are still giving it their all.
The Chinese Football Association (CFA) and the professional league administration have implemented a policy since last season that the champion and runner-up teams can directly enter the new season's B-League, a move that has raised the overall level of competition in the B-League and paved the way for the professional development of young players. For example, players such as Liang Shaowen of Beijing Guoan U21, the 2022 U21 League champion, and Wang Haobin of Shandong Taishan, the 2023 champion, have been successfully promoted to the professional league.
This season, Taishan and Seaport U21 teams not only won the Championship of China B, but also ranked sixth and ninth respectively, demonstrating the training strength of the U21 league. However, the "loss" of four U21 teams in the last two seasons has raised concerns about the quality of competition. The FA and league management are working hard to avoid the situation of "only rising but not falling" in order to ensure the healthy development of the U21 league.
It is reported that the FA intends to control the proportion of U21 teams entering the China B-League in order to avoid too much "loss" of strong teams. At the same time, the new season of China B-League teams to 24, but also for the U21 League champions and runners-up to provide more opportunities for promotion.
In order to safeguard the quality of future competition in the U21 League, the FA plans to introduce a relegation mechanism from the 2025 season and reduce the number of promotion places from two to one. Specifically, regardless of the performance of the four teams in League B, the last-placed one will be relegated to the U21 League for the 2026 season.
The improvement of this system will stimulate the clubs to pay more attention to the game. As an important talent outlet for national teams, the U21 league will receive more support in the FA's "elite talent" strategy.
