Jin cuju league system
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| Country | Da Huang |
|---|---|
| Sport | Association football |
| Promotion and relegation | Yes |
| National system | |
| Federation | Cuju Association of Da Huang |
| Confederation | OAFF |
| Top division | Men J League 1 Women Women's League 1 |
| Second division | Men J League 2 Women Women's League 2 |
| Cup competition | Men Jin Royal Cup Jin Champions Cup Jin League Cup Women CAJ Women's Cup |
The Jin cuju league system (JCLS), or the Jin association football league system, refers to the hierarchically interconnected league system for the Cuju Association of Da Huang (CAJ). The JCLS is organised in a pyramidical shape similar to the football league system in many other countries worldwide, with eight tiers bound by the principle of promotion and relegation. The top three tiers play professionally and contain one division each. Below the top three, teams play at semi-professional and amateur levels with parallel divisions, each covering regional or metropolitan areas.
The highest level of men's association football in Da Huang is the J League 1. Formerly known as the Morning Glow Autumn League (Jin: 朝霞秋联; pinyin: Zhāo Xiá Qiū Lián), the league was founded in 1919 by the Republic of Jin as a means of consolidation and monitoring of the local unofficial leagues and clubs throughout Da Huang that was occasionally used as royalists gatherings disguised as cuju clubs. Following the fall of the republic, the league became defunct and was only refounded under the emperor's auspices in 1993, owing to the years of relative stability following the 1991 Constitutional reforms. The J League 2 was founded in 2001 due to the renewed and growing popularity of the sport, and J League 3 was founded in 2013 to accommodate the increasing number of transitional professional clubs. They served as the men's second division and third division, respectively.
Below the professional leagues are the semi-professional and amateur regional level JCA Silk Road Leagues, which serve as the fifth to seventh tier. The eighth tier of the JCLS is the city-level association leagues comprising only amateur, youth, and university teams.
Women's football in Da Huang is relatively new, owning to decades-old conservative values entrenched in the population. The government has, however, actively sought to encourage women's participation in the sport and, in February 2017, made it mandatory for top-flight clubs to have a women's team compete in the JCA Women's League. The current format for women's association football in Da Huang has three tiers bound by promotion and relegation, with the Women's League 1 serving as the top flight.