THE Chinese Football Association (CFA) has stepped up its fight against spiralling big-money deals for foreign players by announcing prohibitive new curbs, less than a month before the next transfer window opens.

The CFA said loss-making clubs, which pay a transfer fee for a new player must invest an equivalent amount in a government-run fund set up to cultivate Chinese youth players and promote soccer for “the public good.” The CFA also said that starting in the 2018 season, clubs will be required to field an equivalent number of foreign players and under-23 Chinese players in each game.

The measures are intended to discourage clubs from the “pursuit of short-term results, blindly one-upping each other, high-priced acquisitions, and actions that drive up prices,” the CFA said Wednesday.

The moves follow rocketing deals, which reportedly put Ezequiel Lavezzi and Carlos Tevez among the world’s best-paid players, and saw Chinese clubs smash the Asian transfer record five times within 12 months.

In the latest Asian-record transfer, Chelsea midfielder Oscar moved to Shanghai SIPG for 60 million euros (US$67 million) as Chinese clubs splashed a record 388 million euros in the January-February transfer window.(SD-Agencies)