In the late afternoon of September 5, the CFA Cup officials unveiled the schedule deployment for the second round of the 2022 season.
In the first round of the tournament, nine teams from the Central League managed to advance to the next round. Going into the second round, teams from all four divisions of the CFA, namely the Chinese Super League, the Chinese First Division, the Chinese Second Division and the Chinese Champions League, were involved.
Among the top 18 Chinese Super League teams, in addition to the 8 away teams in each of the top and bottom halves, Chengdu Rongcheng and Dalian Ren met the challenge as the home teams, their opponents are Hebei and Zhejiang respectively. The remaining 14 Chinese Super League teams are up against: the 9 Chinese First Division teams that have just been promoted, as well as the winners, runners-up and third-place finishers of the 2022 Chinese B League and the 2 winning teams of the 2022 Chinese Champions League.
According to the announced fixture list, a highly anticipated match will see defending champions Shandong Taishan take on Qingdao Hainiu, marking the return of the long overdue Qilu derby. The last time the two teams faced each other in the Chinese Super League was in 2013.
In the past, Qingdao Hainiu often created problems for Shandong Taishan, the big brother, but now Qingdao Hainiu, who is playing in the Central League, is going all out to fight for the Super League, and the AFC Cup may not be a top priority for them, so it is not surprising that they may play with a substitute lineup.
It is worth mentioning that in this season's Qingdao Hainiu team, in addition to the skipper Yin Tiesheng had coached Shandong Taishan, Liu Junshuai, Xie Wenneng, Cao Sheng and other players are all from Shandong Taishan, I do not know whether they will be in the key moment to fight back for the old master.
