The Organisation of Chinese Football

This chapter examines the organisation and governance of Chinese football within the broader framework of the country's state-regulated sports system. Rooted in a system that prioritises elite performance, football has undergone numerous iterations of reform without fully shedding the logic of administrative state control. The chapter outlines the hierarchy and oversight linking key institutional actors – the General Administration of Sport, the Chinese Football Association and its local branches, the Chinese Super League Company, and the Chinese Professional Football League. It then maps China's professional and amateur football pyramid, presenting an overview of club ownership structures – private, State-Owned Enterprise, state and mixed – and their geographic and league distribution across the three professional leagues.