Chinese League Affiliate Tip

Not sure how useful this will be to most, as it probably doesn't apply in many other leagues - but it's very useful in China.

In China, all affiliates seem to come from the division below you. There are none overseas, there are none from some really low division.

Now each season, there is a chance that some of your affiliates will get promoted and be facing you in the Chinese Super League. When they do, they will cancel the affiliation because they are too big now. But they don't do it immediately, they wait until several weeks into the new season. That's your chance to send all your promising youngsters on loan to that club. There is no 4 player limit like in some leagues, so you can loan out 15 players to the promoted club if you like. And they will accept the players because they are still an affiliate.

The end result is that your youngsters get experience at the highest level in the country. Maybe a loan to a club in the top division of a European league would be preferable, but I've found that youngsters level up nicely from a season in the Chinese Super League and come back to you ready to go. It's certainly far far better than sending them to one of your other affiliates or leaving them in the Reserves.

[broodje kip]

Haha brilliant one Scratchy. I did the same when playing in the Serie A and it’s 100% useful I can say.

[Mr Tree]

Cool, this happens in Ireland too, so I'll keep an eye out for it. 4 of the 10 teams in the Irish First Division are currently my affiliates