In-depth analysis of the 2021 season of the Central League match system innovation
The new season of the Central League will be based on a tournament system and will be divided into four phases, with the entire season completed through 34 rounds of double-round robin tournaments (including 10 rounds + 8 rounds + 8 rounds + 8 rounds).
In the first stage, three clubs - Chengdu Rongcheng, Meizhou Hakka and Wuhan Sanzhen - acted as hosts, while the three seeded teams were drawn by lot to determine the Groups A, B and C to which they belonged. The remaining 15 teams were serpentinized according to the 2020 league standings and directly assigned to one of the three groups. Six teams from each group will play a double round-robin of 10 rounds of matches in their respective divisions, resulting in a total of 90 exciting matches.
Going into Stages 2 through 4, teams will rotate based on their performance in Stage 1, with each stage divided into three groups for intra-group double round robin matches. It is important to note that there will be no more face-offs between teams in the same group in the first stage. Eight rounds of matches are played in each stage, totaling 72 matches.
With regards to the promotion places for this season's Central League, it will be set at 2+0.5+0.5. The top two teams will be promoted directly, while the third and fourth places will have to play a play-off against the bottom two teams in the Chinese Super League to determine the final team to be promoted, thus completing the expansion of the Chinese Super League for the 2022 season.
