Why are there two teams in China and only one in Japan and South Korea in A3 League?

A3 League is a competition in which the champions of soccer league of China, Japan and South Korea and the Asian army of the host country participated last year. The competition was held in turn. In the last four leagues, China once hosted one, but the results were not satisfactory. As a competition with Asian football comparable to the AFC Champions League, A3 League has a very famous nickname, that is-

Romance of Asian Three Kingdoms

A3 League is an event founded by East Asian Football Federation in 2003. Its name A3 comes from three Asian countries, namely, the three Asian countries. Since the China-Japan-Korea Football League is the highest-level and largest league in Asia, China, Japan and South Korea have attached great importance to this event from the beginning, and it is precisely for this reason that the AFC has been very hostile from the beginning.

In fact, the reason why the Football Associations of China, Japan and South Korea want to hold such an event is very clear, that is, to promote the exchange of football in the three countries and further promote the further development of the football level in the three countries through mutual competitions and exchanges. The cooperation between this small group should have been encouraged by the AFC, but the AFC has always been not only discouraged, but also very hostile, because it involves the reasons why this incident may seriously affect the AFC Champions League.

At present, apart from the Australian Football League and the China-Japan-Korea Football League, which have just joined the AFC, other so-called leagues in Asia cannot be compared with the China-Japan-Korea Football League.

In addition, in terms of the development of football leagues among China, Japan and South Korea, Japan's J League is the highest level at present, and their leagues have delivered a large number of talents for their own teams and also for high-level leagues in Europe. In recent years, South Korea's K League has also shown an upward trend. Thanks to the efforts of the Korean Football Association, their league level has objectively surpassed that of the Super League.

Of course, the Super League is not without its own advantages, with a large geographical span and diverse team styles, which are not available in Japanese leagues and Korean leagues. It is precisely because of this complementarity that A3 has attracted the attention of the three participating countries.

Romance of the Three Kingdoms in China

A3 League returns to China this year. According to the competition system, China can have two teams. Shandong Luneng and Shanghai Shenhua won the championship and runner-up respectively last season, so the important task of representing China naturally fell on them. For these two China teams, although their fates are different in recent domestic leagues, they are full of confidence in this A3 team.