BEIJING — China will effectively double the cost for its clubs to buy foreign soccer players in a move aimed at slowing the influx of overseas stars and encouraging homegrown talent.
China’s Football Association announced Thursday that any club that pays more than 45 million renminbi ($6.63 million) million for a player transfer must pay the same amount to a CFA youth development fund. The tax will be in place until the end of the Chinese league’s summer transfer window on July 14. Transfers for Chinese players valued at over 20 million renminbi ($3 million) will also be taxed at 100 per cent.
Chinese Super League clubs have shaken up international soccer in recent years by offering large transfer fees and wages for players from European teams.
The new policy could potentially derail mooted deals from Chinese clubs to acquire English Premier League stars such as Wayne Rooney and Diego Costa. Cristiano Ronaldo’s agent said in December that the Portuguese forward turned down an overture from a Chinese club for a transfer worth hundreds of millions of euros.
Over the past year, transfers like Shanghai SIPG’s 60 million euro (then $66.6 million) deal for Brazilian midfielder Hulk have brought a wave of attention to the Chinese league, but sports officials say the purchases lead to little long-term benefit for Chinese soccer.
The transfer tax money would be spent on youth training, construction of public sporting facilities and "scientific progress in football development," according to a statement by the CFA, which effectively is directed by China’s state sports authority.
In recent weeks the CFA has also proposed a new rule that would require teams to play an under-23 Chinese player for every foreign player on the field.
After decades of dismal national team results, President Xi Jinping has pinpointed improving Chinese soccer as a top priority.
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