The Paper reporter Song Chengliang
Although the 2022 Chinese Super League transfer window has just closed, and the list of participating teams in the third-tier professional league has been officially announced, it is still unknown when the league will start.
At noon on the 2nd, some media said that “this year’s Chinese Super League will officially start on May 27th”. Then the surging news reporter learned from the Chinese Football Association and the Chinese Football Federation—Affected by the epidemic, the league division is still not fully determined. The end of May is the earliest time the league can restart. Therefore, there are certain variables in the schedule and competition system.
Chen Xuyuan, chairman of the Chinese Football Association.
There is one more region that has yet to be finalized
Originally, the league was scheduled to start on April 26 at the earliest – the international players will end the 14+7 isolation after returning from the World Preliminaries. They can return to the team on April 22, and the league will start immediately after a slight adjustment.
However, due to the epidemic, the first flight back to China needed to re-apply for the route, causing the national football team to stay in the UAE for three or four days. Afterwards, the two teams, Shenhua and Haigang, could not leave Shanghai, and the originally determined competition area could not continue to host the game due to various reasons. Therefore, all the preparations basically amounted to starting all over again.
The selection of the division is still the most important task of the Chinese Football Association. According to the plan, 18 Chinese Super League teams will be divided into 3 major divisions, with 6 teams in each division.
The Chinese Football Association and the Chinese Football Federation recently confirmed that Dalian City, Liaoning Province, and Meizhou City, Guangdong Province will host the first stage of the new season of the Chinese Super League.
At present, the Chinese Football Federation is stepping up contact, but whether the final division can be finalized still depends on the epidemic situation. The Shenhua team started training in early March.
Can Shenhua Seaport participate in the competition as scheduled?
In fact, even if the two major competition areas of Dalian and Meizhou have now been determined, the premise that the Chinese Super League can be successfully held in the end is not affected by the epidemic.
In addition, there are also uncertainties as to whether Shanghai Shenhua and Shanghai Haigang can participate in the competition as scheduled.
Shenhua soldiers are still training at the Cambridge base, and the team has been closed for more than 50 days for training, and daily training and life are guaranteed. The first-line members of the Haigang team could only train at home alone according to the amount of exercise set by the coaching staff.
However, with the gradual resumption of work and production, the entire Haigang team has also entered a hotel to resume training in preparation for the upcoming league.
Of course, once the start date of the Chinese Super League is finalized, whether Shenhua and Haigang can go to the venue as scheduled will depend on the progress of the epidemic prevention and control situation in Shanghai, and the relevant parties will make decisions.
At the same time, the venue of the Chinese Super League may require the two Shanghai teams to quarantine for 14 days before competing, which is also an uncertain factor for the opening time of the Chinese Super League.
Taking into account the actual situation of the competition area and the two Shanghai teams, the Chinese Football Federation believes that the end of May is the earliest start time for the Chinese Super League this season.
A relevant person told the surging news reporter, “We hope to start the game as soon as possible, otherwise there will be great difficulties in the schedule.”
Where is the Chinese Super League going this season?
Can the 34 rounds of the league be played?
According to the plans of the Chinese Football Association, the Chinese Football Federation and the various clubs of the Chinese Super League, the 2022 season is to fully restore the home and away game system, but considering the actual situation, the first stage is still only a game system.
However, according to the current situation, I am afraid that the entire season will eventually be carried out in a tournament system.
At the same time, compared to the previous group competition plus the championship group and the relegation group, this year the Chinese Football Association and the Chinese Football Federation have been formulating the competition system in accordance with the double round-robin 34 rounds-considering that the national team may have to play this year. The East Asian Cup and the Asian Games, plus the World Cup to be held at the end of November, so the schedule left for the Chinese Super League is already very tight.
Previously, the reason why relevant parties hoped that the league would start at the end of April was that there would be a five-day interval between each round – after all, the 3-day competition system last season affected the overall quality of the league.
Judging from the current situation, once the league cannot start in early June, there is a question mark on whether it can play 34 rounds of games.
This is not what the Chinese Football Association hopes to see. After all, the league’s various commercial sponsorship income has also dropped a lot in the past two seasons due to the greatly discounted schedule.Return to Sohu, see more
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