In just one week from July 7 to 14, the CFL preparatory team sent an elite working group to take a two-pronged strategy to conduct the first round of in-depth inspection of the Super League's candidate venues. The inspection covered 7 clubs' home stadiums in 6 districts, and all of them successfully passed the preliminary examination. Among them, some clubs have clearly stated that they can undertake home matches, providing a solid foundation for the resumption of the home-and-away system for the rest of the season.
According to the latest plan released by the preparatory team of the CFA and the CFL on July 6 at the summit of club bosses, the home-and-away system will be resumed from the 11th round (Aug. 5) of the 2022 season of the Chinese Super League. In view of the epidemic and other objective factors, some clubs may not be able to host home matches in the short term. For this reason, the organizers have specially asked the local sports management departments for opinions on whether they can host home matches of clubs, and asked the clubs to give feedback on the specific opinions in the second half of July.
Knowing that a number of conditions need to be met in order to host a Chinese Super League match, the CFF preparatory team decided to conduct a site visit to each club's home stadium to check the conditions. The inspection was officially launched on July 7, the day after the league meeting. The inspection team was divided into two teams, which conducted detailed inspections of seven clubs' venues in six candidate cities.
Group A has inspected Phoenix Hill Professional Stadium in Chengdu, Wuhan Sports Center Stadium, Wuhan Sports Center Stadium, Five Ring Sports Center Stadium, Zhengzhou Navigation Stadium; Group B has inspected Shenzhen Longgang Daiyun Stadium, Changchun Jingkai Stadium, and Jinan Olympic Sports Center (Luneng Stadium). These seven Super League clubs' preferred home venues have all passed the inspection. As for the clubs' venues that have not been inspected in this round, it is mainly because their candidate home venues have successfully hosted large-scale sports or soccer matches, or are hosting professional soccer matches.
For example, the city of Dalian, where Dalian People's Club belongs to, and the city of Meizhou, where Meizhou Hakka Club belongs to, have just hosted the first stage of the Chinese Super League, and their match and training venues naturally meet the conditions for hosting home matches. Zhejiang Football Club plans to declare a stadium in Huzhou City as the team's home ground, which has previously been examined as an alternative venue for the Hangzhou Asian Games, and the conditions are also in line with the requirements of the Chinese Super League.
Guangzhou has hosted many Chinese Super League (CSL) matches, and a number of stadiums in the region have successfully undertaken the Chinese team's preparations and match reception duties, so as long as the two CSL clubs in the same city reach a consensus on the region's territoriality and venues, there is great hope for hosting CSL matches again.
The Chinese Super League clubs should give feedback to the organizers by July 20 at the latest about whether they can host the home matches of the Chinese Super League. Currently, some clubs, including Changchun Yatai, Henan Songshan Longmen and Wuhan, are optimistic about the prospect of hosting their respective home games.
The prospect of Beijing Guoan and Shanghai's two clubs "playing at home" has also attracted a lot of attention. Guoan club has Fengtai Sports Center as the first candidate for the home field, home games bidding procedures have been initiated. Shanghai two clubs are affected by the Shanghai epidemic and other factors, there is no relevant confirmation information.
Insiders analyze that Shanghai has a good foundation of stadium facilities. As long as the application for hosting the game to obtain local consent, such as the source of the deep sports center and other venues can be put into use the first time. Even if the two Shanghai clubs can't "play at home" in the short term, they can also apply for a home game at the Suzhou venue. The Shanghai Derby, which was played in Suzhou in the previous two seasons, attracted more than 10,000 spectators.
As of now, the tournament organizers are still patiently waiting for the feedback from the clubs. After collecting and organizing the letters of consent from the clubs, the organizers will start the second round of tournament inspection.
