Wuhan Evening News Exclusive (Reporter: Ma Wanyong)
On April 1, the annual event for club managers of the 2021 season of the Chinese Football Professional League (CFPL) was grandly opened in Shanghai. The meeting unveiled the start time and grouping of the new season of the Chinese Super League. The highly anticipated Wuhan team will once again embark on the familiar "Gusu District" to start the journey of the new season.
In the 2020 season, the impact of the epidemic forced a complete suspension of the Chinese Super League, which was scheduled to start in March. Eventually, the Chinese Super League was restarted on July 25, followed by the Women's Super League, the Chinese First Division and the Chinese Second Division. It is worth mentioning that in the face of adversity, the soccer players of Wuhan, the city of heroes, fought bravely and finally Wuhan Zall was successfully relegated to the Chinese Super League, and Wuhan Chegu Jiangda Women's Soccer Team won the championship in the Women's Super League. Wuhan Three Town, after October's preparation, finally won the championship in the Second Division League and successfully qualified for promotion to the Central League.
The Chinese Super League is undoubtedly the focus of fans' attention. Wuhan Zall experienced great challenges under the special match system last season. Despite their impressive performance in the first stage of the competition, the results of the first stage did not count for the subsequent matches due to the conference system + knockout rounds. In the end, Wuhan Zhuoer went all the way through, battling with Henan Jianye, Qingdao Yellow Sea, Shijiazhuang Yongchang and other teams, until the second place in the Central League, Zhejiang Greentown, after the battle of life and death, only to be relegated, and become the last relegation team in the Chinese Super League last season.
In the new season, Wuhan Zall changed its name to Wuhan Team and successfully passed the admission to the Chinese Super League on March 29, ranking 14th in the Chinese Super League according to the ranking order of last season. According to the ranking order, Wuhan was placed in Group B, with Beijing Guoan, Shanghai Harbor, Shanghai Shenhua, Hebei, Tianjin Jinmen Tigers, Dalian People and Changchun Yatai in the same group. Among them, Beijing Guoan, Shanghai Harbor, Hebei and Tianjin Jinmen Tiger had direct meetings with Wuhan last season, while the other three teams have not played each other.
It is understood that Group B teams were placed in the Gusu district, which had hosted Chinese Super League matches last season, while Group A teams were placed in a new district - Guangzhou.Group A teams include Guangzhou, Shandong Taishan, Chongqing Liangjiang Athletic, Henan Songshan Longmen, Guangzhou City, Shenzhen, Qingdao, and Cangzhou Lions.
In addition to the groupings, the meeting also announced that the start of the 2021 season of the Chinese Super League will be April 20, and the system will revert to the regular league system, with 16 teams going through 30 league games. In addition, the relegation rules have also changed, there is no direct relegation quota in the new season of the Chinese Super League, the 15th and 16th teams in the league will play a play-off with the 3rd and 4th teams in the Central League, and the winner will enter the Chinese Super League.
