Chinese football league system

The Chinese football league system or league pyramid, refers to the hierarchically interconnected league system for the Chinese Football Association (CFA) that currently consists of over 100 individual leagues having 2,221 teams, in a series of partially interconnected leagues that are bound together by the principle of promotion and relegation. The top three professional levels contain one division each and have promotion and relegation between the leagues allowing smaller clubs the hypothetical possibility of ultimately rising to the very top of the system. The hierarchical system continues and levels have progressively more parallel divisions, which each cover progressively smaller geographic areas.

Structure
The highest level of football in China is the Chinese Super League which was founded in 2004. In 2016, The Chinese Super League was declared by the seventh annual Global Sports Salaries Survey as the world's 12th highest-paying sports league in which 47 players — constituting the top 10% — claim more than 81% of the total pot of earnings. The China League One and China League Two are currently the second and third division. The two worst teams from the Chinese Super League are replaced by the two best teams from the China League One at the end of each season. The China League Two is conducted in two groups of 16 teams with the season culminating in a play-off. At the end of a season, the best 3 teams on table promote to China League One, and the worst team of League One has to be relegated. Other 4 clubs from League One (14th, 15th) and League Two (4th, 5th) attend to a play-off tournament, deciding 2 positions at League One. From Season 2019, the club in last position of each group would relegate to CMCL.

Chinese Champions League is an amateur football league that includes 10 Groups. The members of this league come from member associations of CFA, which are belong to tier 5 of league system. Tier 5 competitions also have lower leagues to feed.

The leagues below level 3 are classed as "non-league", meaning they are outside of the professional leagues. Most non-league football clubs in China are basically amateur and hard to build a fanbase.