On July 5, 2021, the heads of the salons of a Chinese Super League, a Chinese First Division and a Chinese Second Division gathered in Shanghai for a crucial meeting. The core topic of the meeting was an in-depth discussion on the professional league system and the FA Cup match arrangement for the 2021 season.
At the beginning of the meeting, Chen Xuyuan, the president of the Chinese Football Association and Shi Qiang, the head of the preparatory team of the CFF, delivered important speeches, while Liu Jun, the deputy head of the team, was responsible for presiding over the whole meeting. Heads of salons from the Chinese Super League, Chinese First Division and Chinese Second Division were also present.
The meeting discussed in depth the preparations for the Professional Football Salon Federation (PFSF) and elected their respective salon representatives for the PFSF Preparatory Group in accordance with the three sub-groups of the Chinese Super League (CSL), Chinese First Division (CFA) and Chinese Second Division (CSB). After intense voting, Li Ming (Beijing Guoan), Wu Xiaohui (Shanghai Shenhua), Li Jun (Hebei), Dai Jiling (Henan Songshan Longmen), Huang Shenghua (Guangzhou City), Fu Qiang (Kunshan), Yao Xia (Chengdu Rongcheng), Wu Hailer (Nanjing City), Jia Les (Guangxi Pingguo Hazhou), Wang Chao (Shaanxi Terracotta Warriors Transcendence) and other ten people stood out to be the salon representatives of the new CFF Preparatory Group.
These salon representatives will be involved in the important decisions of the CFF preparatory team and contribute to the sustainable development of the professional league.
During the meeting, Salon representatives had a heated discussion about the 2021 season's Premier League format and ultimately decided to make significant changes.
The new Super League season will be played in two phases:
The first stage, based on the current AB group, is a double round-robin point system with a total of 14 rounds and 112 matches.
In the second stage, according to the points ranking of each group in the first stage, the top four in Group A and the top four in Group B will enter the "Championship Group" and play each other; while the 5th to 8th places in Group A and the 5th to 8th places in Group B will enter the "Relegation Group" and also play each other. This phase will consist of eight rounds with a total of 64 matches.
The teams with the highest point totals will be ranked higher in their respective groups, with the top eight teams in the "Championship Group" being ranked 1 to 8 in the new season, and the top eight teams in the "Relegation Group" being ranked 9 to 16 in the league.
Accordingly, the specific match schedule for the 2021 Super League season has been updated: the first phase of rounds 6 to 14 and the fifth bye will be played from July 15 to August 12, and the second phase of matches will be played from December 1 to January 3, 2022.
In addition to the major adjustments to the Chinese Super League fixtures, the fixtures for the Chinese League A and Chinese League B have also been fine-tuned.
The Central League fixtures have been fine-tuned as follows:
The format remains unchanged, with the second phase of the competition adjusted from July 2 to Aug. 8 to July 11 to Aug. 17, the third phase to Sept. 3 to Oct. 10, and the fourth phase to Nov. 17 to Dec. 24, as originally scheduled.
The C.B. League fixtures have been fine-tuned as follows:
The format also remains unchanged, with the third stage of the competition rescheduled from Aug. 26 to Sept. 26 to Aug. 29 to Sept. 29, and the fourth stage rescheduled for Oct. 30 to Nov. 30, respectively.
In addition, the organizational arrangements for the 2021 CFA Cup were officially announced during the meeting.
I. Preliminary stage
A total of 42 teams will participate in the competition, including 18 teams in the Central League and 24 teams in the Central League B. The preliminaries will be played in two rounds. There will be two rounds of preliminaries for the second division, with six teams advancing to the main round of the F.A.C. Cup, and one round of preliminaries for the first division, with nine teams advancing.
II. Main round stage
A total of 32 teams will participate in the tournament, including 16 teams from the Chinese Super League, nine from the Chinese First Division, six from the Chinese Second Division and one from the Chinese Championship. In the first round, the 16 Super League teams will face each of the other 16 teams, and the matches are expected to be played from October 16th to 19th.
