On July 5, the meeting of the professional soccer league in China kicked off at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, located in Pudong, Shanghai. During the meeting, the system of this season's Chinese Super League was clarified: the original 30 rounds of matches were streamlined into 22 rounds. The first half of 14 rounds in mid-August before the end of the national football training, the remaining 8 rounds will be played in December. It is worth mentioning that these 8 rounds of matches will no longer adopt last year's knockout system, but will be divided into championship and relegation groups based on the results of the first 14 rounds. The four teams in Group A of the championship group will play a double round-robin match against the four teams in Group B. The final league ranking will be determined by the total points.
Clubs vote for downsizing program
The national football team is expected to start assembling around August 17th as the World Preliminary 12 kicks off on September 2nd. The Chinese Super League has been hit hard by the epidemic. The professional league has proposed two sets of options for clubs to vote on: one is to complete 30 rounds of the league, but the national players will be absent; the other is the current 22-round program, which will see the national players participate in the league despite the tight schedule.
It is reported that the Football Association prefers the program that the national players are not involved, which not only reduces the impact of the league, but also guarantees the state of the players when the national team calls up newcomers. If the league is interrupted, the national football team will face greater difficulties in transferring people. After consultation, the club finally chose the 22-round program, which means that from mid-August to the end of November, the Premier League will be suspended, and the AFC Cup tournament will be held during this period.
Super League's first crossover challenge
For the first time in the history of the Chinese Super League, there will be a challenge across the year according to this schedule, with Guangzhou and Guoan leading the way on July 15 with two bye matches. The rest of the teams will play on the 18th to complete the first 14 rounds of the league by August 12th. This means a tight schedule of nine rounds of league matches to be played by the clubs in 25 days. The final eight rounds of the tournament will start on December 1st and end on January 3rd. Although only 3 days across the year, but because most of the players' contracts expire on December 31, some clubs may face a lot of coordination and communication work. It is not ruled out that foreign aiders will miss the game at the crucial moment of the league's sprint or relegation.
In addition, the FA Cup schedule was also officially announced. China B preliminaries will be held from July 31 to August 1, each region to complete the 8 into 4 screening matches. August 3 to 4, China B to complete the 12 into 6 screening matches, 6 China B teams will get the qualification for the AFC Cup. The preliminaries of China A will be held from August 18 to 20, 18 teams of China A will fight against each other, and finally 9 teams will get the qualification for the main round of the AFC Cup. The F.A.C. Cup will kick off on October 16, with 16 Chinese Super League teams, 9 Chinese First Division teams, 6 Chinese Second Division teams and 1 Chinese Championship team. 4 rounds will be played from October 16 to November 8, and the final will be held on November 13 and 14, with the league suspended from September to November. With the league suspended from September to November, the F.A.C. Cup is likely to be the only way for players to stay in competitive shape.
Points system replaces elimination system
In addition, the final eight rounds of the league will be a points-based competition instead of the knockout system of last year. The first 14 rounds of the league will be divided into title contenders and relegation groups based on results, and then double round robin matches will be played in different divisions. Points from these 8 rounds of matches will count towards the total to determine the final league standings, and teams from the same division will no longer play each other. Compared to last season's knockout system, this greatly reduces the risk of chance, avoids the unreasonable situation where a team could still be relegated early in last year's league without winning a single regular season game, and better reflects a team's league performance throughout the year. The only regret is that each team is destined to miss out on playing four teams from different divisions and different points zones this season, and will not play each other throughout the year. But in the existing situation, this is also a helpless choice. (Sohu Sports Pei Li)
