On January 23rd at the Soca Football Training Base in Zhuhai, the qualifying round of the CFA Cup came to an end, with 16 valiant teams standing out and successfully advancing to the main round. It is reported that in order to provide more opportunities for amateur teams across the country to participate in the competition, the CFA is brewing a series of innovative incentive policies, such as linking the qualifying tournament with regional member association cups to stimulate the enthusiasm of more regional associations.
2024 is the first year of a full revival of the FA Cup qualifying competition. The participating teams were carefully selected by each member association, divided into three groups after the draw, and engaged in a fierce single round-robin duel. In the end, 16 teams, including Ningbo Haishu Hao Mei, Shanghai Changning Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Shanghai Shenshui, stood out.
The spirit of the AFC Cup is "Football for All, Unlimited Joy". The qualifying tournament brought together players from diverse backgrounds, including Tibetan compatriots from Gannan, the student team from Nanning Oriental Jinding, as well as ex-professionals Zhang Lu, Li Jianbin, Gao Xiang, and Zhu Jun, who had invested in Shenhua FC, to show that soccer has no boundaries.
The epidemic had put the FA Cup qualifying tournament on hold, but was able to restart it this year. The FA hopes to break down the barriers between amateur and professional by combining the qualifying tournaments with local association cups to provide amateur teams with a stage to play against professional teams.
It is reported that the FA will guide member associations to file for this year's cup tournaments to lay out the groundwork for the 2025 qualifying tournament in advance. At the same time, associations that have not organized a cup tournament are encouraged to act quickly to ensure a seamless transition to the qualifying tournament.
The first round of the 2024 F.A.C. Cup main round will see the qualifying teams battle it out with the Chinese champions. The qualifying teams in the main round will have to go through three rounds of matches and then face the Chinese Super League teams. This not only raises the profile of the cities where the amateur teams are based, but also stimulates the enthusiasm of local football associations to organize the tournament.
The F.A.C.A. Cup has traditionally been a hotbed of cold-blooded events, such as Jingchuan Wenhui's defeat of Guoan in 2022. In this year's qualifying round, teams such as Ningbo Haishu Haomei and Shanghai Changning Mitsubishi Heavy Industries have shown remarkable strength, and the possibility of a dark horse coming out of nowhere should not be underestimated.
The Cup system allows lower-tier teams to challenge higher-tier teams, lowering the participation threshold. Theoretically, low-level teams can even reach the AFC Champions League (subject to qualification by the AFC). This season, Kofu Fung Lam won the J2 League of the Emperor's Cup, successfully advancing to the AFC Champions League, which is a good example of how low-level teams can make a comeback.
Jingchuan Wenhui beat a professional team and was able to compete with a Chinese Super League team within a year, earning the team publicity and inspiring other amateur teams to challenge the stronger teams. This positive publicity effect is especially significant in the Internet age.
The FA plans to give lower-level teams priority for home matches, with Central B, Central A, and Super League teams in that order. In the future, the FA will also expand the scale of qualifying matches.
From March 15-17, the 16 qualifying teams will go one-on-one with the fifth- through 16th-place teams from the 2023 CCAA Finals, with the winners advancing to the next round.
