The Beijing Youth Daily has revealed that the U21 league is about to undergo a major change - the introduction of a promotion and relegation system, which will see the number of promotion places shrink to just one.
Since the birth of the U21 League in 2021, the 2023 season marks the full entry of all Chinese Super League clubs into this competitive arena for young players. Despite Shenzhen and Qingdao Sea Bulls dropping out of the finals of the last two seasons for some reason, clubs such as Heilongjiang Bingcheng and Guangxi Pingguo Hahong went all out to finish the season.
The Chinese Football Association (CFA) and professional league management have implemented a policy of promoting championship and runner-up teams directly to the new season's B-League, a key stepping stone for young players to make the leap from the ladder to the pros. Compared to the U21 League, the B-League is more intense and is a key stepping stone for young players to move up the ladder into the professional ranks, with teams such as Beijing Guoan U21 of the 2022 U21 League and Shandong Taishan U21 of the 2023 U21 League already making their mark at all levels of professional soccer, and with some players being selected for the U21 and U19 national teams.
This season, the Taishan and Harbour U21 teams not only won the S2 title, but also finished sixth and ninth in the league respectively. This not only highlights the high level of the U21 league, but also provides an incentive for other teams seeking to pave a career path for young players. However, the promotion of four U21 teams to League B in the past two seasons has led to a decline in the quality of competition in the U21 League, which has become a focus of concern for the HKFA and professional league management.
It is reported that the HKFA and the professional league management will not send the best teams from the U21 League to the China B League based on the principle of "promotion but not relegation" alone. Teams like Taishan and Harbour B, even if promoted to the B-League through the U21 League, will not be able to be further promoted to the China A-League. Therefore, tournament organizers will limit the percentage of U21 teams participating in the China B League. The FA's decision to allow the winners and runners-up of the last two seasons to advance to the China B League is also related to the increase in the number of China B League teams from 20 to 24 for the new season.
To ensure the quality of competition in the U21 League, a possible option is to introduce a relegation mechanism from the 2025 season and reduce the number of places for promotion to the B-League from two to one. Specifically, regardless of the performance of the four B teams participating in the B-League, the lowest-ranked team would be relegated to the U21 League for the 2026 season.
The optimization of the promotion system will undoubtedly motivate clubs to continue to pay attention to the game. As an important talent outlet for national teams, the U21 league will receive more support in the FA's strategy of building "elite talent" in recent years.
