Sports Weekly reporter Ma Dexing said the new season of the Chinese Super League is expected to start at the beginning of March next year and end at the beginning of November, divided into six phases, five of which go into a moratorium because the national team needs to participate in the official games.
It is understood that a draft version of the 2024 Chinese soccer calendar drafted by the CFA's competition department will be formed in September of this year, writes Ma Dexing. Of course, the basis for drafting this calendar is based on the relevant national team match windows announced by FIFA and the various match schedules drafted by the AFC. On this basis, the Competition Department has arranged the schedules of various domestic matches, and also taken into account the arrangements for the matches of national teams at all levels, such as the national team, the Olympic team, the national youth team and the national junior team.
For the entire year 2024, although the intensive schedule of events is far less intensive than that of 2023, in addition to the club's cross-year Asian Championship, the newly established Asian Elite League and the AFC Champions League in the second half of 2024, and other major tournaments, such as the final of the Asian Cup, the sixth edition of the U23 Asian Cup, the final of the men's qualifying rounds for the Paris Olympics in 2024, the second stage of the World Qualifying Tournament in 2026 with a round of 36, third stage Top 18, etc.
After considering various factors and developing a basic schedule of matches, the competition department sent out a schedule of matches to the coaches of the national teams and sought the opinions of the coaching staff. The most important thing was to understand the needs of the coaching staff for their respective preparations and then make adjustments and additions based on the feedback.
As things stand, the first round of the knockout stage of the 2023-24 AFC Champions League, the 1/8 finals, is scheduled to take place on Feb. 13 because the AFC Champions League has been implemented across the year. , 14 and February 20 and 21, because from the current situation, only Shandong Taishan has the opportunity to qualify in the knockout stage, so Taishan's schedule is more intensive. Especially if Taishan wins Shanghai Shenhua again in this year's FA Cup final, he will take part in the annual opener, the Super Cup, on February 24 next year. Taishan may then have to face two matches in four days. The players will still have to face this powerful double-header situation once they play away in the second round of the AFC Champions League 1/8 final.
The 2024 Super League is initially scheduled for the weekend of March 1-3 before the second round of matches will be held from March 8-10th. After the two rounds of matches, the national team will re-centralize in preparation for the first FIFA-appointed window of national team matches from March 18-26, with a focus on the two World Qualifying 36 matches against Singapore. After the national team plays the Asian Cup in January, the team will no longer organize training exclusively, but will concentrate again after two rounds of league matches to prepare for the World Qualifiers.
It is also because of the consideration that the national team has no plan to reorganize the training, the competition department has left about 10 days after scheduling the two rounds of the league on March 10 next year, and before starting the third round of the tournament on March 21, that is, to allow the national football team to organize the training for preparation. Moreover, when submitting the whole preparation plan for the national team, Jankovic made it clear that he doesn't like to train for a long period of time, but rather wants to schedule the league. Considering that next March is the beginning of the new season, the players have not yet reached the best state, but also hope to adjust and stimulate the players to participate in two rounds of the league through these two rounds of matches.
After the conclusion of the home match against Singapore on March 26, the Super League will restart the third round on the weekend of March 29-31, and then there will be no more suspensions. Instead, Round 14 will conclude on the weekend of May 24th to 26th. In other words, the 12-round league will be scheduled over an eight-week period, during which four one-week doubleheaders will be scheduled. Of course, the AFC's proposed AFC Champions League semi-final days will not schedule the league on April 17th and April 24th. This means that if Taishan make it to the semifinals in the AFC Champions League, they will play 8 games in a month next April, which is obviously a bit strong.
Next year, from April 15 to May 3, the sixth U23 Asian Cup final and the final of the Asian qualifying round for the men's soccer team for the 2024 Paris Olympics will be held in Qatar. The competition authority has not considered the "give way" of the league. Moreover, seven rounds of league matches are scheduled before and after this period, which may cause objections from the clubs and create problems for the Olympic players. Because the Olympic team in order to participate in the Olympic preliminaries, certainly need to prepare well in advance. As the U23 Asian Cup schedule has not yet been announced, how to deal with this contradiction has yet to be further implemented and resolved. Because one reality that may be faced is that many middle-aged teams have already participated in.
After the league concludes on May 26, the national team will begin preparations on May 27 for the June 3-11 window of national team matches. During this period, the focus will be on two key Preliminary 36 matches on June 6 at home against Thailand and June 11 away against South Korea. The national team also has 10 days to prepare for the do-or-die match against Thailand.
The Super League will hold its 15th round of matches from June 14 to 16, the weekend of the away match against South Korea, until July 13, when the 19th round of matches will be held. A short break will then be scheduled for the Super League, with the national team scheduling a flight training session from July 18th to 24th. Then, on July 26, the CPL resumes the 20th round of matches, before dropping the 24th round on August 25 at a weekly pace. Beginning Aug. 26, the men's national team will begin to concentrate in preparation for another window of national team matches from Sept. 2-10, when the Round of 18 group stage can be played.
After the September window for national team matches, the Premier League will once again play three rounds of matches until September 29, when the 27th round of matches will be completed. The league will then be suspended again due to the October 7-15 window for the Top 18 group stage. The 28th, 29th and 30th rounds of the Chinese Super League will be scheduled for Oct. 18-20, Oct. 27 and Nov. 2, and then all of the Super League matches will be completed. From Nov. 3, the national team will regroup to prepare for the fifth and sixth rounds of the 18-team group stage, which will be played from Nov. 11 to 19th.
After the 18-team tournament, as in this year's schedule, the final FA Cup final between the winners and runners-up will take place on November 23rd. After that, all fixtures are over, but club teams required to play in the Asian Elite League will continue to prepare for the fifth and sixth rounds of the Elite League.
Looking at the entire draft schedule, because of the need for the national team to participate in the preliminaries, all the league fixtures are divided into six phases because of the national team's appearances, five of which are due to the need for the national team to participate in official matches, and the league takes a break in mid-July, when the national team also has the opportunity to organize a flight for training. Overall, the schedule in the first half of the year is more intensive than that in the second half, but the frequency of two matches a week is scheduled only three times in total in the first half of the year, from April to May. So the whole race schedule is more reasonable. After all, the new season will start with as few races as in March this year.
According to the draft plan, the Chinese First Division will start one week after the opening of the Chinese Super League. Since the Chinese Super League is suspended, the Chinese First Division will not be suspended, so the final round of the Chinese First Division will be held on November 3, the day after the Chinese Super League ends. Like the Chinese Super League, the China First Division will remain at 16 teams. The China B League will open in late March and end in late October. As for the F.A.C. Cup, it is scheduled to begin in mid-March next year, with a total of seven rounds, all single-elimination matches, interspersed during the league.
Now, the entire tournament arrangement regarding the 2024 season is being further refined, and when it is all drawn up, the FA will officially release it.
