December 5, Miao well-known media people disclosed that the B team Rizhao Yuqi to the Football Association submitted a letter of reporting, pointed out that part of the team this year only received a month or three months of salary, and even more so far no particles; in addition, last year's stage of the B stage of arrears of wages, bonuses have not been issued. Especially critical is that the club "never let us sign the salary confirmation slip, nor authorized them to sign on behalf of". The club responded that wages will be paid in batches, "but there is no movement in the near future". The players were concerned that once they were signed and the club had passed the auditing process, they would be "really invulnerable".
When this news was reported, it triggered heated debates, and some people even called it a "strange story". Personally, I believe that this is normal, including the exposure of wage arrears, players' concerns and so on. There is no need to be alarmed when problems are encountered, but the management must attach great importance to this and clarify some issues further.
First, did the club submit the required access materials?
On October 12, CFA officials released a notice on access to the 2025 season of the Chinese Super League, Chinese League A, and Chinese League B. The notice explicitly requires professional clubs to submit relevant materials through the access system before November 25th. Among the materials required to be submitted include a confirmation form for full payment of players' and staff's salaries for the 2024 season, and a signed commitment to settle the club's debts to prove that there are no arrears of salaries, bonuses and overdue payments.
According to the provisions of the access notice, even if the debt is temporarily unpayable, as long as the commitment is submitted at the same time, the club can complete the submission of access materials and enter the FA audit. However, from media reports, it is not yet possible to confirm whether Rizhao Yuqi communicated effectively with the workers who were owed wages when submitting the commitment, nor can it be determined when the club will pay the wages and whether the wages in arrears have been paid in full.
In this regard, it is understandable that players, once signed or cleared by the club, are concerned about wage arrears and have nowhere to complain. In other words, the Rizhao Yuqi Club may not have submitted materials in full compliance with the requirements of the access notice. More precisely, Rizhao Yuqi's access notice may have been granted because of the possibility of forgery (representative signatures) of its access materials.
Secondly, was the initial review too hasty?
The CFA released a notice on December 2 on the announcement of the first batch of clubs completing debt settlement in the 2025 professional league, indicating that the first public list of clubs completing debt settlement in the soccer industry has been released, which was reviewed by the member associations and the CFA. The publicity period is 3 working days (December 3 to December 5, 2024), and Rizhao Yuqi Football Club is ranked 34th.
A media analysis pointed out that as the FA and league management bodies lacked the ability and power to discern the authenticity of the relevant materials, especially the signed materials, as long as the materials were complete, they would be allowed to enter the list of debt settlement clubs in the public notice. The public notice also made it clear that salary payments from November to December 2024 would be included in the next year's access review.
In other words, if a club with unpaid wages and debts can solve the problem by the end of December, or reach an understanding agreement with the parties concerned and submit materials, it can also enter the public list. On the contrary, if the debt settlement cannot be resolved within the stipulated time, even if it enters the public list, it may ultimately lose the qualification for admission.
Another report claims that some players, industry insiders and the media are worried that the FA will not relax access conditions. Yes, the FA's attitude is very clear that the standards will not be lowered. Unpaid wages and debts must be dealt with in strict accordance with the regulations to ensure the seriousness and standardization of league access.
To summarize, Rizhao Yuqi's access materials seem to meet the requirements and have gone through the initial review by the member associations and the FA, and therefore have been allowed to enter the public list. The current problem is that if the club's materials have been falsified, the Football Association not only to ensure that its access to the qualification, but also in accordance with the relevant provisions of the serious treatment. In addition, the Association also needs to respond to the players "nowhere to talk" concerns.
As the management, the Football Association or the league management should also improve its working procedures and put in place a system to address this issue, including similar problems that exist in other clubs.
For example, the issue of salary arrears should not be "checked" until the end of the year. It is almost a waste of work for someone to have no income for the whole year, or to receive only one month's or three months' salary. For these phenomena, the management should set up a reporting and monitoring mechanism to conduct monthly and quarterly inspections; if the standard is not met, league points will be deducted; if the points are deducted to a certain extent, the maximum penalty will be demotion, and so on.
