So, during this working session, the Central
national soccer team
In the competition schedule submitted by the Association and the preparatory group of the CFL, there is no mention of suspending the league for the Asian Championship, the East Asian Cup and the Asian Games in Hangzhou. In the current reality, this is also a choice of last resort.
Four programs to respond to change
During this meeting, the Central
national soccer team
The Association and the Preparatory Group for the Chinese Football League issued the "Chinese
national soccer team
Ball Association's business letter on the home and away matches of the 2022 season of the Professional League Club", which clearly states that "the Chinese
national soccer team
The ball association intends to begin the resumption of the 2022 season in April on the basis of the normalization of outbreak prevention and control
China Super League (soccer league)
League, Central League A and Central League B regular home and away match system." At the same time, "Clubs and member associations in the place of registration are requested to jointly report to the local government to give support and assistance in epidemic prevention work and competition work in the home match area."
This "business letter" actually reveals a very clear message, that is, although the home-and-away system is the first choice and the common hope of all parties, but can the home-and-away system become a reality as desired? An important determining factor is whether the government departments of the clubs' localities are supportive of and willing to provide assistance and facilities for the implementation of the home-and-away system. Moreover, after receiving positive feedback, it will ultimately need to be submitted to a higher authority for approval, and only after approval can it finally be put into practice.
Because of this, both the Chinese
national soccer team
The Association or the CFF preparatory group need to prepare a number of programs in advance, so that there may be changes at any time. It is understood that during the meeting, the CFF preparatory group announced a total of four sets of programs to the delegates, and ultimately choose a set to be implemented according to the actual situation. Among them.
China Super League (soccer league)
The four sets of programs specifically:
In the first set, the home-and-away system was fully restored, with the 18 participating teams completing the "17+17" double round-robin tournament in a home-and-away format, with the final ranking determined by points. A total of 34 rounds and 306 matches were played.
A second, staged, grouped double round-robin home-and-away system. If, in the event that a full return to the home-and-away system is not authorized, the
China Super League (soccer league)
The league will go all out for a "regional home-and-away" format, where the 18 teams can be grouped according to last season's standings and divided evenly into three groups. The teams in each group would move around in a "bubble closure" to compete in the tournament. Teams can also be grouped together according to geographic location, with teams from neighboring regions playing together first, such as the Pearl River Delta, Yangtze River Delta, Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei regions, etc. The 34-round tournament will be divided into four phases. The entire 34-round tournament will be divided into four phases. In the first phase, the six teams in each group will play two round-robin rounds for a total of 10 rounds of matches; in the second phase, the teams in the different groups will be rotated for another eight rounds of matches, in which the teams that have met each other in the first phase will no longer play each other. The third and fourth phases follow the same pattern. In this way, 18 teams
China Super League (soccer league)
Teams compete in four stages of "10+8+8+8" for a total of 34 rounds, and the final points are used to determine each team's results and rankings.
This plan is actually the same method used in last year's Central League, and the response from all parties is relatively good. At least if it is conducted in phases, each team can have time to rest and recuperate during the short breaks, instead of being completely closed off from the outside world for two to three months as it used to be the case in the past. The difference is that last year's Central League was played in a centralized format, with teams from all divisions finishing in one place.
(c) A third, phased, grouped mixed home-and-away double round-robin system. This set has similarities with the second set, but is not quite the same, and is largely dependent on the successful resumption of home and away matches. This is because, in view of the current anti-epidemic realities, it is likely that the home-and-away system will still not be able to be fully rolled out after the league is relaunched, but there is the possibility of complete liberalization in the second half of the year. Therefore, depending on the actual situation, the
soccer league
The preparatory group with the CFL designed such a set of programs, that is, the first half of the first 17 rounds of the game is still similar to the second set of the way, 18 teams were first divided into three groups, divided into four phases to complete, each group of teams are only single round robin tournament, so the four segments of the "5 + 4 + 4 + 4" total of 17 rounds of matches.
When the last 17 rounds of the second half of the season can be played under the home-and-away system, the 18 teams will no longer be divided into groups or phases, and will play the last 17 rounds of the second half of the season in a free-for-all arrangement according to the points scored in the first 17 rounds of the first half of the season. The teams with the highest points in the first half of the season will face the teams with the lowest points, i.e. the weakest against the strongest. Those who have already played a home game in the first half of the season will play an away game in the second half of the season. This has been done in a way to maximize fairness.
Fourth set, regular season + playoffs. In comparison, this set is the worst option, and still chooses to proceed with the home-and-away system when it is possible. However, if the home-and-away system, or even a small regional home-and-away system, cannot be carried out successfully, the centralized tournament system can only be used to carry out the system. The annual tournament is divided into two stages: the regular season and the playoffs. The regular season is conducted in a single round robin system, with four phases, and the 18 teams are still divided into three groups, playing a total of 17 rounds of "5+4+4+4+4" matches to determine the ranking of the 18 teams in terms of points, and then enter the playoffs. The playoffs are still based on points, the 18 teams will be divided into three groups, of which the top six will play for the championship, and the bottom 12 will enter the two groups on average.
relegate
groups, with each group playing a total of 10 rounds in a double round-robin. The team with the best record in the contending group wins the championship; while the two
relegate
The last place in the group is relegated. This type of competition is similar to the final stage of last year's Chinese League A or Chinese League B. The total number of matches played in this scenario is 27 rounds, with a cumulative total of 243 matches.
Regardless of the proposal, a general principle is that if it is possible to strive for the home-and-away system, all efforts will be made to strive for the home-and-away system; only if it is really impossible to resume the home-and-away system will the centralized match system be considered. However, even in the case of a centralized system, the first thing to do is to ensure that all matches can be played. A very important factor in formulating such a principle is that, under the current objective circumstances and conditions, we can first strive to satisfy the needs of the league's sponsors. Previously.
China Super League (soccer league)
The league has gained a lot of sponsorship, but the sponsors all have clear requirements for the number of matches and broadcasts of the league, especially in terms of the specific number of matches, and only when the requirements are met will the sponsors be able to pay the sponsorship fees in full. In the case of the difficulty of adding new sponsors, to go all out for the implementation of the terms of the already signed sponsorship contract, which is not only to ensure that the league continues to survive a very important condition, but also to show the basic business integrity of a reflection. Therefore, although the outside world is currently interested in the professional league, Chinese
national soccer team
There is more negative talk about the ball, but as far as soccer insiders are concerned, how to survive is the primary starting point and purpose of consideration.
