Reporter Wang Wei reports The Chinese Football Association recently released the "2025 Chinese Football Association Member Association Champions League Regulations", in which the rules for the promotion of the 2025 season of the Champions League have been greatly changed. Unlike previous seasons, where the top four teams in the Champions League were promoted to the second division, the top three teams in the 2025 Champions League will directly advance to the 2026 second division, and the fourth-placed team will compete with the 2025 U21 league champion for a fourth ticket to the second division through a play-off. This major reform means that the competition for the second division of the Champions League is more intense, while at the same time, the number of promotion places in the U21 league has been reduced from the previous two to 0.5.

At present, judging from the pre-registration of the participating teams in the 2025 season, the teams ready to sign up for the competition are very enthusiastic, and 80 teams are expected to sign up for the regional competition of the China Champions League this year, and the competition is quite hot.

This year, the Chinese Football Association will still evaluate the admission of the Chinese Champions League teams that are ready to sign up for the competition. First of all, the Chinese Football Association will publicize all clubs that have signed up for the 2025 China Champions League and paid the participation deposit. If it is reflected and verified that the registered club violates the rules of the Champions League, it will be dealt with according to the facts. In addition, if the club has serious violations of rules and disciplines, unfair play behaviors or arrears of relevant fees in the past, the Championship Tournament Committee has the right to disqualify the club from participating in the Champions League. The Championship Committee also formulated the "Detailed Rules for the Evaluation of Clubs Registered in the Champions League", and set up an access review and evaluation team to evaluate the league, club operation, local professionalism, and access to the second division. Registered clubs with a score of less than 60 points are not eligible and cannot participate in the Champions League.

In the 2025 season, the Champions League originally planned to launch a number of reforms, first of all, it was an attempt to implement the home-and-away system of some participating teams in the Champions League, but after preliminary consultation, the home-and-away matches of some participating teams in the Champions League this year have not yet fully matured, so the 2025 season of the Champions League has not changed substantially from the 2024 season of the Champions League from the arrangement of the competition system and the competition methods and promotion methods of the regional competition and finals.

According to the plan, the 2025 season of the Champions League will start at the end of March and last until July, with a total of 16 teams advancing to the finals through the promotion group matches and play-offs in each region. The Champions League finals will be held from August to November this year. In the 2025 season, the Champions League has undergone a major reform of the promotion places, as mentioned above, from the original 4 places to 3.5, and the fourth place in the Champions League will compete with the champion of the U21 League for a promotion place.

Judging from this reform, the promotion competition of both the Chinese Champions League and the U21 League in the 2025 season has increased the difficulty.

There will be 24 teams participating in the 2025 season of the China B League, and the U21 teams of the four clubs of Shandong Taishan B Team, Shanghai Port B Team (2023 U21 League champion and runner-up), Wuhan Three Towns B Team and Chengdu Rongcheng B Team (2024 U21 League Champion and runner-up) will participate in the 2025 China B League, accounting for one-sixth of the total participation scale (24 teams) in China B.

In the 2024 season, the Chinese Second League stipulates that the professional club B team participating in the Chinese Second League "can only be relegated and cannot be promoted" after the season, and the Shandong Taishan B team and Shanghai Port B team that participated in the current season have both entered the championship group, and the two powerful U21 teams have become the spoiler teams in the championship group of the China B League. This shows that the U21 team has enough room to survive in the second division. Therefore, in the 2025 season, the number of teams promoted to the U21 League will be reduced to 0.5, which will not only increase the competitiveness of the Champions League, but also ensure the competitiveness and stability of the League B.

In addition, starting from the 2025 season, the Chinese Super League will follow the registration method of the AFC Champions League Elite League, and divide the first-team registration lineup into two sets: "A list" and "B list". Among them, the "B list" can register a maximum of 8 players, and they must be players in the U21 age group, that is, players born after January 1, 2004. Players in the "B list" can play in the Chinese Super League or the Under-21 league, which also provides more space for young players to play.