XIANGHE, Hebei province - The Chinese Football Association (CFA) announced plans to transfer some of the responsibility for running the domestic leagues to a professional league council at the CFA Special Representative Conference in Xianghe, Hebei province on Friday.

The CFA, formerly in charge of nearly every aspect of the Chinese Super League (CSL) and the second division, launched a pilot reform plan. The newly established council will take over direct management of the domestic leagues, while the CFA will retain the power of supervision, club-entry admission and services of the leagues.

The council will be comprised of people directly involved with the sport, including representatives from the CFA, first- and second-tier clubs, and company and industry experts.

The conference held on Friday was in preparation for the approaching CFA Representative Conference, during which a new CFA president will be selected.

The CFA Representative Conference was established in 2003, with a plan to hold it every four years. However, in order to prepare for the 2007 Women's World Cup and the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the 2007 conference was postponed to 2008. The reshuffle of CFA leaders and the exposure of the country's soccer bribery scandals in 2008 again delayed the conference.

"The CFA Representative Conference has been interrupted for nine years, and this special meeting is a new start for CFA to carry out its obligation in accordance to the CFA regulations," said CFA deputy president Wei Di. "We have spent more than a year working out this scheme, and have organized many meetings to collect opinions from the clubs through the whole process. We were very confident to have the plan passed before the conference."

Wei said the establishment of the council was the first step toward China running its soccer programs professionally.

"The scheme fully stressed the importance of opinions from the direct participants of the domestic league, which converts the managing body of the leagues from an administrative authority to an organ managed by the main participants," Wei said. "It gives the professionals the right to work in a professional way, and will help CFA to walk in the right direction."

CFA deputy president Yu Hongchen was named the first chairman of the council to ensure a smooth transition. His successors will be selected through elections instead of being appointed by the CFA. All CFA staff will stop to serve in the authority if they take a position in the professional league council, and Yu will focus on work in the council during his tenure.

China Daily

(China Daily 02/11/2012 page15)