With the Qatar World Qualifier Asian Zone 12 approaching, China's men's football preparation program on the agenda. Expected to assemble around August 17, the Chinese Football Association and the operational alliance preparatory group to help prepare for the war, has recently on the Chinese Super League remaining matches for in-depth discussions. It is reported that, affected by the epidemic, the parties tend to the Chinese Super League for 22 rounds of matches. The first phase of the remaining 9 rounds of the tournament is initially scheduled for July 18 to August 12 to be carried out. Prior to this, the 5th round of supplementary matches between Henan Songshan Longmen and Guangzhou, and Beijing Guoan and Hebei are scheduled to take place on July 15th and 16th respectively. According to this arrangement, the Super League teams will play a round of matches every three days on average, the density of competition has increased significantly.
Doubtful if Chinese Super League can complete all 30 rounds of matches
According to the latest schedule released by the World Football Federation and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), the 12-team tournament will be opened on September 2 this year until March 29 next year. At present, the World Football Federation in the sponsor pressure still tend to keep the 12 strong home and away match system unchanged. In this context, the CFA needs to do a good job externally to create a favorable competitive environment for the national football team; on the other hand, the internal cooperation with the national football team to do a good job in the preparation and protection services.
Since this Monday, the Chinese Football Association (CFA) and the preparatory group of the Operational League have been in constant communication to discuss the details of the Chinese Super League schedule and system. However, by the 12 rounds of the first six rounds of the centralized arrangements in September, October and November this year, the national football cross-participation in home and away matches to meet the world, the domestic epidemic prevention and quarantine rules and other factors, it is difficult to play all 30 rounds of this season's Premier League according to the established plan.
Super League may end in early January next year
Before the start of the exchange, the national team's coaching staff headed by Li Tie had already made a proposal to bring forward the team's first phase of training ahead of the Top 12 tournament. According to their plan, the national football team is scheduled to regroup around August 17th.
The national football team returned to Suzhou late at night on June 17, Beijing time, and was required to undergo 14 days of collective isolation in accordance with epidemic prevention regulations. After the quarantine period is over, the whole team, even if they are disbanded and sent to different parts of the country, are required to follow the provisions of the independent observation for seven days. This means that the earliest they can return to the club until July 8th. Taking into account the international players after the rest, but also with the club team to re-integrate, so the earliest time to restart the Premier League to mid-July.
Based on the above timeline projections, the CFA and the Operational League Preparatory Group have drawn up a number of competition scenarios for the remaining matches of this season's Chinese Super League (CSL). Considering that it is impossible for the league to be scheduled in September, October and November (the preparation and competition cycle for the national team's Top 12 matches), all parties have made a lot of efforts to find out whether and how to reduce the number of matches in the Chinese Super League, and some have even proposed to halve the whole season to 15 rounds, i.e., to conduct a single-round-robin tournament system.
However, this proposal was largely rejected by all parties, given that "halving the fixtures" would be highly detrimental to the image of the league, the integrity of the competition, the quality of the competition, and would lead to dissatisfaction from all league stakeholders, including sponsors. Combined with the actual situation, the plan of "two phases of 22 rounds" is relatively easier for all parties to accept. According to this plan, the first phase of the Super League this season, the remaining 9 rounds of the tournament must be completed before the start of the 12 rounds, the second phase of the 8 rounds of the tournament will begin to plan to arrange in early December to early January next year, that is, across the year to complete the tournament. Such an arrangement, relatively convenient for the national football team to prepare for the second half of January next year, the 7th and 8th round of the 12 rounds of the tournament.
Super League teams are involved in an average of one round of fixtures every three days
Compared to the later stages of the Chinese Super League, the remaining 9 rounds of the first stage and the two 5th round fixtures of the tournament schedule how to arrange properly, is the current parties need to tackle the problem. From the recent communication between CFA and the preparatory team of the operational league, these 9 rounds of matches will be completed before the start of the new training session of the national football team. Specifically, the 6th round of the tournament is scheduled to start on July 18th. The 6th round to the 14th round of the Guangzhou tournament is scheduled for July 18, 21, 24, 27, 30 and August 2, 5, 8, 11; Suzhou tournament is scheduled to be staggered one day later, which means that this stage of the tournament is scheduled to be completed on August 12th. And from this point to the national football assembly, there are exactly 5 days or so, can meet the needs of the national football rest and recuperation. Round 5 of the two important tournaments to start the plan on July 15, 16, respectively.
If the above plan is finally adopted, then it means that the Super League teams must participate in a round of Super League matches every 3 days on average, such a density is absolutely unprecedented, the test of each team is also unprecedentedly severe. Such a density is absolutely unprecedented, and the test for each team is also unprecedentedly severe. The over-intensive journey will cause huge wear and tear on personnel, which will also increase the chances of players, especially international players, suffering from injuries and other accidents. Prior to this, including Fernando, Wei Shihao, Wang Gang and other international players of the injury to some extent is also from its in the league, "cumulative strain into disease". Therefore, how to "protect" international players, all parties must act prudently.
As of June 26, the CFA and the preparatory group for the operational league have not yet released the final operational plan for the Chinese Super League. The parties also plan to have an in-depth exchange of relevant details in Suzhou next week and finalize the implementation plan.
