On the afternoon of July 1, the group draw for the Qatar World Qualification Asian Zone Phase 3, or the Round of 12, will be held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where the AFC headquarters are located. In view of the spread of the epidemic, representatives of all participating member associations, including the CFA, will have to participate in this event via the Internet. The biggest challenge facing the AFC and its member associations is still the decision on the format of the 12-team tournament. Up to now, the AFC has not yet announced a specific plan to switch to the tournament system for the 12-team tournament, but due to the severe global epidemic prevention situation and the different policies of each country, there is still uncertainty about whether or not the tournament will be able to adopt the home-and-away system as scheduled. In other words, it is possible that the tournament will adopt the conference system. If this is the case, the CFA is likely to make every effort to bid for hosting the matches of the group in which our team is playing.
Big 12 home-and-away system faces dilemma
With the group stage of the 40-team tournament having come to a successful conclusion on June 15 (local time in each region), the AFC and the preparations for the 12-team tournament have shifted their focus. The AFC plans to hold the group draw for this stage of the tournament on July 1st.
In view of the global epidemic situation is still serious, the resulting restrictions on the entry and exit of people is inevitable, the AFC has given up the program of inviting representatives of the participating associations to Kuala Lumpur to participate in the draw ceremony on site, and instead interacted with all parties through the network. The CFA will also arrange for people to participate in the online draw on July 1st. Specific personnel, including the national football team manager Li Tie, team leader Zhang He, as well as the team's external liaison work of the CFA national management department deputy director Huang Song and so on. The draw procedure itself is not complicated, but for the AFC, the participating member associations and their representative teams, the biggest headache is undoubtedly the issue of the 12-team tournament system.
As of June 24, the AFC is still in accordance with the "home and away system" to prepare for the work of the 12-team tournament. However, against the backdrop of the epidemic, there is still considerable doubt as to whether the 12-team tournament can adopt this system in accordance with the established schedule.
In the case of China, the team is scheduled to play the first six rounds of the Top 12 in September, October and November. Despite the fact that the Chinese Super League has made way for the team to prepare for the tournament in full, the team has faced great difficulties in traveling to and from home and away matches. For example, the team's first round match on Sept. 2 is an away match, while the team will play five days later in the 2nd round home match against the 1st slot team. So how will the quarantine rules be enforced for the two teams entering the country separately? From the actual situation of the current 40 strong match where the Chinese team is in group A for the rest of the game temporarily moved to the ground, any personnel to enter the territory of our country, must strictly comply with the provisions of the epidemic prevention in our country, otherwise it will be like the Syrian team, the Maldives team as some members do not meet the requirements of the epidemic prevention regulations in our country and can not be entered into the territory of our country. As the CFA made clear before this month's westward march, there are obvious differences between countries (regions) in the implementation of anti-epidemic policies, including anti-epidemic policies for the entry of personnel. According to the World Football Association, the AFC epidemic prevention regulations, participants only need to be required to carry out the necessary number of nucleic acid test before the game, you can participate in the normal, but now China's implementation of the epidemic prevention of entry into the more stringent provisions of the personnel. In addition to a negative nucleic acid test, a person must also pass a serum antibody test if he or she wishes to enter the country. This is precisely why four players and seven officials from the Syrian team were initially denied entry.
Logically speaking, once the home and away system is not feasible, then the World Football Confederation and the AFC have no choice but to change the system to a centralized system. Prior to this, the AFC has already introduced similar changes in the AFC Champions League and the 40-team tournament in the course of the operation. The success of the AFC Champions League last season was due to the change to the match system.
It should be noted that the Chinese team will also challenge the third-ranked team on the road in the fourth round of matches on October 12th. In the face of the cross journey between home and away, the quality of the Chinese team's preparation will inevitably be affected if it strictly enforces all the world and domestic anti-epidemic regulations.
Other teams in the AFC East Asia Region that are facing similar difficulties are the other teams in the 12-team tournament. Australia, for example, is now struggling to accommodate visiting teams due to strict immunization regulations. Vietnam, South Korea, Japan and other countries have also implemented more stringent anti-epidemic regulations, so in the coordination of the 12 home and away games program, all parties are facing great difficulties.
Once the tournament system is changed, the CFA will not hesitate to bid for it.
It is understood that after the end of the 40-team tournament, some of the member associations participating in the 12-team tournament have already expressed their willingness to run the 12-team tournament by adopting the tournament system to the AFC through various channels. Therefore, during the draw ceremony on July 1, similar topics will also become the focus of discussion. As for the possible change of the tournament system, the CFA is actually psychologically prepared. It is understood that once the World Football Federation, AFC agreed to use the tournament system, then the CFA will make every effort to bid for the national football team where the group tournament.
In fact, the CFA's advantage in hosting the Top 12 is very obvious. First of all, before this, the CFA has actively cooperated with all relevant parties to ensure that all domestic soccer matches, such as the Chinese Super League, were held in a closed environment in a safe and orderly manner last season; in addition, although the 7 matches in the second half of the 40-team tournament were moved to another place temporarily, the CFA's arrangement and ability to host the tournament have been tested in practice and recognized by the AFC and other parties. As the Chinese Super League, 40 group A tournament, Suzhou tournament in the epidemic prevention, venue provision and maintenance, reception and other aspects of the conditions show obvious advantages. In other words, if the Top 12 matches could be held in China, Suzhou could be ready for use. In addition, Shanghai has also given great support to the women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament and the men's Top 40 Tournament in terms of the entry of participants and the prevention of epidemics. All these are more favorable conditions for CFA to bid for the important world events.
From operational or economic considerations, WFC and AFC emotionally welcome member associations such as CFA to host the World Qualifiers. As we all know, with the rapid development of China's economy, more and more Chinese-funded enterprises are associated with world soccer organizations and important world football events. For example, during this year's UEFA European Cup, the names of several Chinese-funded enterprises have been on the advertising pages of the matches. More and more Chinese-funded enterprises have been among the World Cup business partners in recent years by virtue of their respective advantages. As a result, once the 12 strong tournament eventually changed to the tournament system, then at least the World Football Federation, the AFC will not refuse.
It is worth noting that the Qatar World Preliminary Asian tournament into the 3rd stage of the 12, the tournament commercial rights and interests are all grasped by the AFC. Affected by the epidemic, the past two years, the AFC operation suffered a heavy blow, they objectively also need to have the strength of the member associations of the country to lend a helping hand in the running of the tournament for them to share their worries, and at the same time to help them alleviate the economic crisis. It is reported that the AFC has been through the tender, confirmed by a Chinese company as an agent to develop the 12 strong business interests. If at least one group of the 12 tournaments can be held in China, then the AFC will naturally have the confidence to join hands with all parties for a win-win situation.
Bidding for a conference system also requires tackling various challenges.
From the practice of the World Qualifying Tournament, although the World Football Confederation is the organizer of the tournament, but with regard to the specific tournament, they are still fully decentralized to the continental football federations. As for the role played by the World Football Federation in this process, in fact, is still mainly to coordinate the journey of the continental qualifiers specific schedule. The Asian region 12 tournament as an example, now the East and West Asia region of the participating member associations of the country's epidemic prevention policy and its norms are different, which the West Asian region of the countries of the epidemic prevention policy to fulfill the norms of the relatively loose, easier to promote the home and away system. However, the epidemic prevention policies of the participating member associations in the East Asia Region tend to be more strict. If the AFC intends to change to a tournament system, and the CFA recognizes the bid, then a series of practical problems must be solved. Firstly, it is necessary to coordinate with the relevant national authorities on the implementation of the rules on immunization and quarantine of participants, and then to avoid the recurrence of the embarrassment of the temporary relocation of matches due to the inability of members of visiting teams and match officials to enter the country in time to participate in the tournament.
The second aspect is the need for FIFA to adjust the World Matchday cycle. For example, the second half of the 40-team tournament was made possible by the fact that the WFF Council agreed to extend the previous World Matchday cycle by one week to accommodate the four rounds of matches. Since FIFA had already established three World Matchday cycles in September, October and November, it was difficult for FIFA to temporarily lengthen, move forward or backward one of these cycles, taking into account the operation of professional leagues (clubs' interests) on all continents of the world.
Thirdly, even if all the above difficulties are solved. The participating member associations will find it difficult to "give" in this stage of the 12-team tournament. For example, once the Chinese team and Japan, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and other teams in the same group, then the tournament only need to use the tournament system, I am afraid that the associations will be competing for the right to host. Even if the CFA has the advantage of bidding for the hosting, it will take time and effort to lobby the same group of competition partners, which will inevitably generate a lot of uncertainty.
It is understood that the coach of the national football team and the management team, and the members of the National Football League Preparation Working Group of the Chinese Football Association have recently exchanged views frequently on related issues. And they have made preparations for various possible situations. It is certain that the opinions of all parties are highly consistent on the issue of safeguarding the interests of the Chinese team in the competition.
