On March 14, China Football Association (CFA) issued a notice on matters related to player transfer registration for the 2022 season for Chinese Super League (CSL), Chinese League A (CLA) and Chinese League B (CLB) clubs through an official channel, confirming that the first transfer window for the new season of the CSL and the CLA will be open from March 15th to April 15th. This decision means that the CFA and the CFL preparatory team are making every effort to push forward the preparatory work in accordance with the plan to kick off the new Chinese Super League season on April 23rd.
However, in view of the recent serious situation of the epidemic in some provinces and cities in China, the tournament organizer and the operation team have suspended the field inspection of alternative venues for clubs at all levels, and the detailed inspection work has been temporarily transferred to local member associations for assistance. Whether or not the home-and-away system can be resumed in the new Chinese Super League season will depend on a number of factors, including the development of the epidemic and preventive and control measures.
According to the official information of the CFA on the 14th, the opening date of the first player transfer window for the new season of the Chinese Super League and the Chinese League A is March 15th and the closing date is April 15th. This timetable coincides with the organizers previously announced, with April 23 as the opening node of the tournament plan. At present, the CFA and the CFL preparatory group is in accordance with the plan to actively promote the new season of the Chinese Super League and other levels of professional league preparations for the start of the tournament. From the feedback of professional clubs at all levels collected by the organizers earlier this month, the 18 clubs of the Chinese Super League and most of their local football associations have expressed their support for the resumption of the home-and-away system of the league.
Recently, however, there has been a noticeable backlash of epidemics in a number of cities in China, including the places where some professional league clubs are registered. Out of concern for the protection of the health and safety of personnel, tournament organizers have always placed epidemic prevention at the forefront of their minds during the execution of the opening work.
So, can the home and away system be resumed in the new season of the Chinese Super League? In fact, before this, the CFA and the CFL preparatory team have developed four sets of Super League competition programs for various situations that may arise.
According to the communication situation of the league working meeting on February 23, the second proposal among the four proposals has been prioritized and recommended. The specific content of the program is: "home and away system combined with stage and group system", that is, with reference to the system of last season's League, the 34 rounds of the season will be divided into four stages in accordance with the pattern of "10+8+8+8 (rounds)". In each stage, 18 teams will be divided into three groups, and each group will play a double round-robin competition with home and away matches. At the end of each phase, the teams in each group will be rotated, keeping six teams in each group, and then play a double round-robin competition within the group.
It should be noted that the CFA and the CFA preparatory team have been striving to maximize the restoration of the home-and-away system in the process of formulating the plan. Only as a last resort will the continuation of the "match system" practiced in the past two seasons be considered. The relevant personnel involved in the preparation of the Chinese Super League also said that the epidemic prevention policy is a major national policy. The first and foremost prerequisite for organizing the tournament is to safeguard the health and safety of the personnel. While promoting the resumption of the home-and-away system, it is also necessary to anticipate extreme situations and formulate corresponding countermeasures.
