Chinese Super League: What you need to know about the division threatening to dominate football

With the Chinese Super League (CSL) threatening to take over the footballing world, we took a closer look at recent developments over in Asia.

Q: After a recent decision by the Chinese FA to limit the number of foreign stars allowed to play in the CSL, what implications does this have on the league itself?

The Chinese FA's announcement that teams in the Chinese Super League will now only be allowed to field a maximum of three foreign players, as opposed to five, in a single game comes as a bit of a shock in terms of the timing – with the majority of teams having already made plans that included a larger contingent of foreign players ahead of the forthcoming season.

In addition, in a move to encourage the development of emerging younger, local players, at least two domestic players who are under the age of 23 (born on or after 1 January 1994) must be in the 18-man list, and at least one must be in the starting XI.

The Chinese FA had originally planned to implement these new guidelines in 2018, but, amid recent concerns over the growth of young Chinese stars, the new measures will now be in place for the start of the season, which begins in March.

The Chinese FA said they aim to "elevate the level of the national team and to maintain the healthy, stable and sustainable development of the professional league".

Q: What does Shanghai SIPG boss Andre Villas-Boas think about the new rules?

"This decision should have been made after the season, or with a certain buffer," Villas-Boas is quoted by the South China Morning Post.

SIPG will probably suffer the most out of the clubs after bringing Oscar, Hulk, Elkeson and Ahmedov to the club in recent times.

"Most of the clubs team building plans have been in accordance with the previous rules. That's when everyone gets caught off guard."

Q: When does the CSL transfer window shut and what have been the big deals of this window?

The window shuts on 28 February.

The story of the CSL transfer window thus far has been broken records. Shanghai SIPG signed Oscar for £52m, smashing the record for not only the highest transfer fee but also making the Brazilian the highest paid player in the world – only to be outdone by Shanghai Shenhua who swooped for Carlos Tevez just a week later.

Tevez moved to China in a deal worth £9m from Boca Juniors. The Argentine will earn a whopping £610,000 a week, making Oscar's £400,000 a week look somewhat measly. The previous highest-paid player in the world was Cristiano Ronaldo, who earns £365,000 at Real Madrid.

Another ex-Chelsea midfielder, John Obi-Mikel joined TJ Teda on a free transfer.

Belgium international Alex Witsel also made the move to Asia. He completed an £18m transfer to Tianjin Quanjian.

Q: What can we expect between now and the end of the window?

As, with any transfer window, speculation is rife. Especially with the serious amounts of money being pumped around by the Chinese.

But Tianjin Quanjian owner Shu Yuhui confirmed his Chinese Super League outfit had bids in the pipeline for strikers Diego Costa, Karim Benzema, Edinson Cavani and Radamel Falcao until China's Football Association made changes to the number of foreigners.

"Our club had a massive investment plan for the new season but it was tightened up by the new rules," Shu told Tianjin sports channel, according to Yahoo.

So with the new sanction in place, a quieter end to the CSL transfer window is a given – which will be a relief to the majority, if not all, Premier League clubs.