New rules kick in

Much has been made of new Chinese Football Association regulations designed to give more chances to young homegrown talent.

The number of under-23 Chinese players that teams play must at least equal the number of foreigners on the pitch, while teams also must have at least three under-23 players in their 18-man lineups and must start at least one of them.

That resulted in 49 under-23s seeing game action over the weekend, with 24 starting and 10 playing the full 90 minutes.

It is also worth noting that, unlike last term, no under-23 players were replaced before halftime.

Last season some teams exploited loopholes in the rules by replacing youngsters shortly after kickoff.

Perhaps the only negative was the lack of goals from the under-23 contingent. Huang Zichang of Jiangsu Suning was the only one to find the net, helping his team to a 3-1 victory over Guizhou Hengfeng Zhicheng.