Group draw for the 2021 season of the Central League announced
In the late afternoon of April 1, the first stage of the 2021 season of the China League 1 group draw was officially announced. 18 teams were assigned to compete in three zones, with Zhejiang assigned to the Meizhou zone, while Chengdu Rongcheng and Wuhan Three Towns will welcome the challenge of the new season on their respective home turf. According to the tournament schedule, the new season of the Central League will kick off on April 24, and the opening ceremony will be hosted by Wuhan.
The new season of the Central League will be played in three major regions - Meizhou, Dalian/Chengdu and Wuhan. The tournament will be officially launched on April 24, with Wuhan hosting not only the opening ceremony but also the opening match. This season's China League One is a four-stage double round-robin system, with a total of 34 rounds of matches, with each stage consisting of 10, 8, 8, 8 rounds respectively.
In the first stage, host teams Meizhou Hakka, Chengdu Rongcheng and Wuhan Sanzhen were seeded to land in Groups A, B and C respectively. The remaining 15 teams were serpentinized based on the 2020 league rankings and directly assigned to Groups A, B and C, with six teams from each division. Of particular note, Group B consists of teams from the Dalian and Chengdu divisions. It is reported that Dalian will host the first two stages of the tournament, while Chengdu will be responsible for the third and fourth stages.
In the second, third and fourth phases, teams will be rotated according to their ranking in the first phase, and each phase will be divided into 3 groups, with double round-robin competitions within the groups (there will be no more matches between teams of the same group in the same phase). Each of the second, third and fourth phases will consist of 8 rounds of matches, and after the final completion of 34 rounds of matches, the total number of points will determine the rankings of this season's Central League.
The top two teams in this season's Central League A will be promoted directly to the Chinese Super League, while the third and fourth-placed teams will play a promotion and relegation playoff against the bottom one and bottom two teams of the Chinese Super League, with the winners earning a spot in the 2022 season's Chinese Super League and the losers staying in the Central League. The bottom one and bottom two of the Central League will play a lift playoff with the third and fourth place of the Central League B. The winner will stay in the Central League, while the loser will be relegated to the Central League B.
Here are the first stage groupings for the 2021 season in the Central League:
Meizhou Region: Meizhou Hakka, Zhejiang, Shaanxi Chang'an Athletic, Sichuan Jiuniu, Zibo Cuju, Xinjiang Tianshan Snow Leopard
Dalian-Chengdu Region: Chengdu Rongcheng, Kunshan Team, Beijing North Sports University, Nantong Zhiyun, Jiangxi North Gate, Nanjing City
