After two years of the baptism of the "club system" league, whether this year's professional football league can restart the home and away match system has become the focus of the industry's hot debate. At the end of February, the National Football Association (NFA) issued a consultation letter to its affiliated professional clubs and member associations on the resumption of home and away matches in the 2022 season, widely soliciting the views of all parties, and the feedback has been sent to the CFA. In the face of the challenge of restoring home and away matches, the relevant person in charge of the CFF revealed in an interview with Sohu Sports that although the difficulties are numerous, it is not hopeless: "We all work together, the prospect can still be expected."
CFA makes every effort to promote the return of home and away matches
The CFL has summarized the feedback from the clubs in order to formulate a follow-up work plan. Most of the clubs have shown positive willingness to cooperate and hope that the home and away match system can be resumed as soon as possible to safeguard the sound operation of the professional league. Some clubs have expressed concerns about meeting the epidemic prevention requirements, while individual clubs are worried that the increased costs of home and away matches will exacerbate the operational pressure.
In any case, the restoration of the home and away match system has become the top priority of the National Football Association (NFA) in preparing for the league this season, and is being pushed forward with full force. The Chinese Super League will ensure the completion of 34 rounds of matches, and the NFF plans to try to partially resume home and away matches even if it is not possible to fully resume home and away matches when the epidemic prevention situation permits. After all, two consecutive years of the tournament system has made the clubs face an existential crisis, in the context of the epidemic prevention and control of normalization, professional sports events also need to explore reasonable coexistence mode.
Expert Opinion: Epidemic prevention and control at soccer events has advantages
Experts pointed out that compared to indoor activities such as movies and plays, soccer matches are outdoor activities with open spaces and air circulation, and the risk of virus transmission can be minimized after making good epidemic prevention plans. In the previous two seasons, the Suzhou and Guangzhou tournaments allowed fans to enter the game, the number of people even more than 20,000 or 30,000, thanks to strict preventive and control measures, both to achieve "zero infection". These two years of practical experience for the tournament epidemic prevention and control has accumulated valuable experience.
The new season of the Chinese Super League fixtures and measures to prevent epidemics
The new season of the Chinese Super League is expected to start on April 23 and end on November 13, lasting seven months. The CFL has formulated a number of plans to restart the home-and-away system. At present, the most likely scenario is to draw on last season's Chinese A system, the 34 rounds of the league is divided into four segments, each segment of 10 + 8 + 8 + 8 rounds, 18 teams in three groups, the group within the two rounds of home and away tournaments, and then rotate in turn to ensure that 34 rounds of matches to complete.
The advantage of this option is that it is highly flexible, with a home-and-away system when the outbreak is well controlled and a temporary return to a conference system when the outbreak is severe. The disadvantage is that there may be uneven dialog between the strong and the weak, but considering the epidemic prevention and control, this is already a more ideal option.
In response to the epidemic prevention and control, the National Football Association has also prepared specific measures, such as the establishment of alternative home field, the initial control of the home field attendance in 3-5%, the seat between the set up isolation zone. It is reported that this season the Chinese Super League will not set up visiting fans viewing area, in principle, do not receive visiting fans to watch the game, in order to reduce the flow of people.
Preparations for the main venue in Henan start
In order to restore the home and away match system, some clubs have been actively acting. on March 2, Henan match preparation coordination meeting was held in Zhengzhou Navigation Stadium, Henan Provincial Football Association, Songshan Longmen Club and other relevant personnel attended. Fan Ronghui, secretary-general of Henan Provincial Football Association, listened to Songshan Longmen Club's preparatory work report, emphasizing the need to do a good job of preparing for the new season's home field, and timely preparation of emergency plans.
After the meeting, the leaders of each department inspected the Navigation Stadium and Zhongmou Football Training Base to discuss the specific details of the work. Henan Songshan Longmen Club said that it will fully cooperate with Henan Provincial Football Association to ensure that the requirements of the National Football Association on the resumption of the home and away match system are met.
