Breaking down the complex fixtures of the 2021 Central League season
The new season of the Central League, which will adopt a unique tournament system, will be divided into four stages throughout the 34 rounds of fierce battles (including 10 rounds, 8 rounds, 8 rounds and 8 rounds of different stages).
In the first stage, the three main zones were hosted by Chengdu Rongcheng, Meizhou Hakka and Wuhan Sanzhen. The three seeded teams were drawn into Groups A, B and C, while the remaining 15 teams were serpentine ranked according to the 2020 rankings and directly assigned to each group. Each group of six teams will play a double round-robin of 10 rounds, totaling 90 matches in their respective divisions.
Going into phases 2 through 4, teams will rotate based on their performance in phase one. Each stage will be divided into three groups, with double round-robin matchups continuing within the groups, but no more matchups between teams from the same group in the first stage. Eight rounds of matches will be played in each of the stages 2 through 4, totaling 72 games.
Regarding the promotion places this season, the Chinese Super League will offer two direct promotion places and an additional 0.5 places. This means that the top three teams will be promoted directly, while the third and fourth ranked teams will play a play-off against the last two teams in the Super League to ensure that the expansion of the Super League in the 2022 season goes smoothly.
