Cheng Shan reporter reported: the National Games soccer tournament came to an end, the eyes of Chinese fans once again turned to the 12 strong match and the upcoming opening of the Football Association Cup in October. It is reported that the Football Association in order to protect the quality and fairness of the tournament, as early as in mid-September has issued a supplementary notice on the 2021 AFC Cup competition regulations. This notice is mainly for the national team to call up the player's club, set up a temporary transfer window - September 29 to October 12, allowing clubs to add players, but the quota shall not exceed the number of players called up by the national team.
Preparations for the AFC Cup are in full swing, and after three rounds of qualifiers, the list of the top 32 teams has been released, including teams from the Chinese Super League, the Chinese First Division, the Chinese Second Division, and the Chinese Championship. on September 29th, the draw for the AFC Cup will determine the matchups. It is worth mentioning that when determining the league schedule at the beginning of the season, the AFC took into account the preparation of the national team and the fairness of the league, and finally decided to suspend the league in the absence of international players. However, the FA Cup will be played from October to November, when the national players will not be able to participate, which will have an impact on the strength of the teams. The FA is seeking to help these teams bridge the strength gap.
The Football Association (FA) issued a supplementary notice on the 2021 FA Cup competition regulations on September 15, clearly stating that a temporary transfer window will be opened, allowing clubs to complete player loans, transfers and FA Cup supplements during the window period. The number of players that clubs can bring in is equal to the number of players called up by the national team, and they are all registered with the FA, including local players and foreign aiders.
Players traded during that window can only be used for the FA Cup and not for the December League to avoid unfairness. In addition, short-term loan players cannot play in the December league with their original team, and players who transfer to join a new team can only play in the Super League on behalf of their new team in the 2022 season. This provision greatly restricts the space for player trading and is actually more of an internal dive to re-enroll players for eligible clubs.
The supplementary notice also stipulates the U23 policy, which exempts clubs with U23 players called up by the national team from the U23 policy in the main round of the AFC Cup. Currently, Shanghai Shenhua and Shandong Taishan are in compliance with this provision. The third item is about epidemic prevention, if the team can't finish the match due to epidemic prevention, it will be regarded as forfeiting the match.
Despite the operational crisis faced by some clubs in the league, the FA Cup will remain the focus of fans' attention as the Chinese League B and Chinese League A tournaments are underway and the Chinese Super League teams have begun their training.
