CFA requires China’s professional football clubs to have permanent names

December 22: To improve preparations for the new season of all 3 divisions of professional football in China, the Chinese Football Association (CFA) held a conference in Wuhan, Hubei Province. Representatives from all clubs of the Chinese Super League (CSL), China League (CL) and CFA Division Two League (C2L) were in attendance. 

One of the priorities emphasized by the CFA the conference is that all clubs competing in the CSL, the CL and the C2L should change their team names over the next three years. 

Today, professional clubs are often named after their sponsors. For example, the CSL’s Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao Football Club was named after its sponsors, Guangzhou Evergrande Group and Taobao.com, the online shopping mall of Alibaba Group. Similarly, Jiangsu Suning Football Club, Beijing Sinobo Guoan Football Club, Shanghai SIPG Football Club and others follow this practice.

However, once a sponsor is changed these professional clubs also have to be renamed, which is an obstacle in creating a stable fan base and culture for Chinese clubs. As a result, the CFA has required that China’s professional football clubs create permanent names for the clubs without featuring sponsor names. 

Source: Tencent

Proofread by Raymond Fitzpatrick