On January 23rd, Zhuhai Soca Football Training Base witnessed the end of the qualifying round of the CFA Cup, with 16 brave players standing out and advancing to the main round stage. It is reported that for the participation of amateur teams across the country, the CFA is preparing a series of incentives, such as linking the qualifying tournament with local member associations' cups to urge member associations that have not yet organized them to act quickly.
2024 marks the full re-launch of the FA Cup Qualifying Tournament. Teams were selected by member associations and divided into three groups after a draw to start a fierce single round-robin tournament. Sixteen teams, including Ningbo Haishu Hao Mei, Shanghai Changning Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Shanghai Shenshui, Shanghai Orange and Hangzhou Qiantang, successfully advanced.
"Football for all, fun for all" is the core concept of the FA Cup. In this qualifying match, the players' backgrounds are diversified, including not only Tibetan players from Gannan, but also the student team from Nanning Oriental Jinding, and even former professional players such as Zhang Lu, Li Jianbin, Gao Xiang, and even 57-year-old Zhu Jun, the owner of the team, who also participated in the match to show off his skills.
The FA Cup Qualifying Tournament had been suspended due to the epidemic. It was restarted this year with the aim of breaking down the barriers between amateur and professional through the seamless integration of local member association cups and qualifying tournaments, providing many amateur teams with the opportunity to compete with professional teams.
It was revealed that the CFA will ask member associations to file for this year's cup tournaments to prepare for the 2025 qualifying tournament in advance and guide the related work. For places that have not held the cup, the CFA will urge them to organize it as soon as possible to ensure a seamless connection with the qualifying tournament.
The first round of the 2024 AFC Cup main round will see the teams that have advanced from the qualifying rounds face off against the Chinese Championship teams. The promoted teams will have to go through three rounds of the main round and eventually face the Chinese Super League teams, which not only enhances the city's brand influence, but also incentivizes local football associations to organize the tournament.
The AFC Cup has traditionally been a hotbed for blowouts, with Jingchuan Wenhui beating Guoan in 2022. From the performance of the qualifying round, Ningbo Haishu Hao Mei, Shanghai Changning Mitsubishi Heavy Industry and other teams show strength, the possibility of the dark horse coming out of nowhere should not be ignored.
The cup system allows lower-level teams to challenge higher-level teams, lowering the threshold for participation. Theoretically, lower-level teams can even participate in the AFC Champions League (subject to AFC qualification), and the J2 League's Kofu Kafuurin's victory in the 2022 Emperor's Cup is an example of a come-from-behind victory.
The fact that Jingchuan Wenhui beat a professional team and was able to play against a Chinese Super League team after only one year was a great publicity opportunity for them and set an example for other amateur teams to follow, inspiring them to challenge the stronger teams.
Under the FA Cup program, lower-level teams will be given priority for home matches. In the future, the FA will also expand the scale of qualifying matches.
From March 15 to 17, the 16 teams that advanced from the qualifying round will play one-on-one against the 12 teams ranked fifth through 16th in the Central Championship Finals, with the winning 14 teams advancing to the next round.
