Objective of the study was to establish the influence of the Chinese professional football association and national policy on the activities of the professional football league and football clubs in China.
Methods and structure of the study. The conducted experiment is based on the method of situational analysis of actual events and official documents. The source database includes the national sports media of China, specialized, mainly Chinese, websites of clubs, football commentators and observers, a few scientific works of Chinese and foreign researchers on this topic.
Results and conclusions. A number of changes in sports policy have undoubtedly had a huge impact on the teams in the Chinese Super League, but have so far led to disappointing results. In total, since 2019, 35 clubs of the Chinese professional league have been disbanded, including four clubs participating in the China Football Championship.
The understanding that professional sports should follow market principles and that public policy should not interfere heavily with the basic operations of a business is debatable.