Five days before the opening of football's "biggest trading window," Chinese authorities moved to "rein in the country’s unprofitable clubs by announcing an unprecedented rule that would force teams to pay double for new recruits," according to Tariq Panja of BLOOMBERG. The measure "comes amid a spending spree by teams backed by major private and state-owned businesses" that have responded to Chinese President Xi Jinping’s call to create a $740B sports economy by '25. Clubs that spend above 45M yuan ($6.6M) on foreign players -- "way below the price of most such recruits" -- or 20M yuan ($2.94M) on domestic signings "will have to pay an equivalent amount" into a national football development fund. For cheaper transfers, the payments "would be made into clubs' own youth-development programs." The proposed new regulations, sent to teams on Wednesday, "quantify penalties first disclosed" by the Chinese FA last month. The CFA said that the rules were established "to limit the trend of professional football clubs pursuing short-term performances and introducing players at high prices." The Asian nation was the fifth-biggest spender on players in '16, "trailing only powerhouse leagues" in England, Spain, Germany and Italy (BLOOMBERG, 6/14).
