With the planning of the Chinese Football Association (CFA) and the Chinese Football League (CFL), the new season of the Chinese Super League and the Chinese First League will kick off in May (the two leagues are expected to be separated by one week), while the start of the Chinese Second League will be a little later. At present, preparations for the leagues are in full swing, and the selection of referees for the three-tier professional league has been completed. Not long ago, the FA sent a notice to the local member associations about the training of referees for the third-level professional league.
Manning (name)
Due to the impact of the epidemic, referees who are legally qualified (including replacements and recruitment candidates) for the new season of the Chinese Super League, Chinese First Division and Chinese Second Division will receive business training from April 24 to 28 through an online format. Among them, a total of 90 referees (46 referees and 44 assistant referees) from the Chinese Super League will receive the training. International-level referees Ma Ning and Fu Ming, who are currently enforcing the AFC West Asia Region tournament in Saudi Arabia, and international-level assistant referees Cao Yi and Shi Xiang are also participating in the training. The purpose of the FA Refereeing Department in setting replacement and recruiting referees for all levels of leagues is to promote the superiority and inferiority of the refereeing team in professional leagues and to maintain healthy competition among referees.
According to the usual practice, the HKFA will organize referee training before the launch of the new professional league season. Due to the impact of the epidemic, the FA and the CFL preparatory team have not yet determined the specific start time for the new season of the three professional leagues. However, judging from the progress of the preparatory work, it is more likely that the Chinese Super League and the Chinese First League will start in May. Against this background, the referee department of the FA has recently launched a pre-season training program for referees of all levels of professional leagues.
According to the plan, legal work referees (including assistant referees) and referee supervisors for the new season of the three-tier professional league are required to undergo training from April 24th to 28th. Due to the impact of the epidemic and in order to avoid large-scale activities and gatherings of referees across the country, this training will be conducted remotely online.
A total of 429 people received the training. Among them, there were 33, 46 and 44 referees, referees and assistant referees in the Chinese Super League; 29 referees, referees and assistant referees in the Chinese A League, 50 referees and 47 assistant referees in the Chinese A League; and 50 referees, referees and assistant referees in the Chinese B League, 130 referees and assistant referees in the Chinese B League.
In particular, the selection of referees for the Chinese Super League has attracted much attention. It is reported that all registered international referees (including international assistant referees), including Manning, Fu Ming, Wang Di, Shen Yinhao, Tang Shunqi, Jin Jingyuan and Zhang Lei, have participated in this training. Although Maning, Fu Ming, Cao Yi and Shi Xiang are currently in the Saudi Arabian Champions League and are expected to participate in the enforcement of the final stage of the Qatar World Cup, they will still participate in this training on the side of enforcement and training.
Analyzing from various factors, the Football Association will probably not hire foreign referees to enforce the law in China in the new season. Due to the expansion of the Chinese Super League in the new season, there is more demand for local referees and more pressure on the referees. They need to show the ability to enforce the law in line with the level of the top professional league.
It is worth noting that the referees of all levels of professional leagues participating in the training, and even the supervisory lineup of referees of the Central League A and Central League B also included some replacement candidates or recruitment candidates.
Taking the list of Chinese Super League referees as an example, among the 46 selected referees, there are two substitutes and four recruited referees. The so-called "recruitment" is actually a legal referee alternative for each level of matches set by the refereeing department of the Football Association with reference to the method of selecting referees of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). Specifically for the domestic professional league referee selection, the referees "recruited" by the Chinese Super League are actually the referees who have outstanding performance in the past season of the Chinese First League, thus becoming the alternative referees for the new season of the Chinese Super League. The young referee from Chengdu, Tang Shunqi, has followed such a trajectory in the domestic law enforcement arena until he was promoted to international referee this year.
The establishment of "replacement and recruitment" referees actually constitutes a spur to referees who have already obtained the official qualification for enforcing the law in the Chinese Super League, pushing them to continue to learn and make progress, and refusing to stagnate at the business level. In other words, if a referee who has obtained the qualification of enforcing the law in a higher level league makes frequent major mistakes in enforcing the law in this level league, he may be "demoted", and the replacement or recruited referee will take his place. This will also promote the mobility of referees in each league, strengthen the elimination of the fittest and encourage more young referees to make progress.
It is reported that the "teacher power" to participate in this training is also very strong. A total of 9 people served as training instructors, they are Niu Huijun (female), Zhang Lingling (female), Huan Rancheng, Zhang Lei (big), Fan Qi, Feng Wenqiang, Yao Qing, Liu Qingwei, Li Dongnan. Most of them are former international level referees or international level assistant referees.
