Moving into the 2021 season, the Professional League Preparatory Group made its debut, shouldering the responsibility of operating and managing the three-tier league of the National Football League, and they were faced with an unprecedented chaotic situation. The original plan for the 30 rounds of the Chinese Super League had envisioned that the home-and-away system could be resumed in the second half of the year if the anti-epidemic situation improved, but the fluctuations in the epidemic and the continued impact of the national anti-epidemic policy have made the cost of the national team's 12-team tournament far more expensive than in previous years.
The preparatory group has fully taken into account the needs of the national football team's preparation for the Top 12, and the 22-round schedule developed at the beginning of the year was designed to ensure that the league does not cross over while the national football team prepares for the tournament. However, all plans were disrupted after the national team was forced to move to West Asia for the last three Top 40 matches. The original plan was to end the Top 40 in Suzhou on June 15 and restart the league on June 21, but the national team returned to Suzhou from West Asia on June 17, and with the 14+7 quarantine period, the earliest resumption of the league was postponed to around July 15 at the earliest. The league's preparatory team has announced that there are nine rounds left to be played in the top stage of the schedule, which will take at least 40 days to digest, meaning that the league could be played until late August. However, the national team has made a request for early training, and completing nine rounds of the tournament in a much shorter period of time and the intensive schedule will be a severe test for the team and the league's management and broadcasting.
With the epidemic prevention policy taking precedence, it is impossible to organize leagues for the months of September, October and November, and only December is left for the remainder of the 2021 league year, so how is it organized? Is it across years? What are the pros and cons of the various options?
[30 rounds of talk, 22 rounds of great challenge]
The preparatory team has been looking for the best solution for the continuation of the league, and there are currently four major options: firstly, to continue to play all 30 rounds of the league, the home and away system is basically impossible, and can only be used across the year tournament system, but this will at least be played until June or July 2022, which will clash with the other tournaments in Asia, and therefore completing the 30 rounds of the league is basically empty talk; secondly, to play 22 rounds of the tournament, which can be divided into across the year and not across the year options: if not across the year If not, the remaining nine rounds of the top stage (14 rounds) will be played in one month, and the remaining eight rounds will be played in December; if it is across the year, January 2022 also needs to reserve preparation time for the national team, and the game can be played in late February, but the AFC Champions League season will start in March; the third is to play 15 rounds, which looks like a small number of rounds, and seems to be easy to arrange the schedule, but in fact, it's the most troublesome program, and it needs to be divided into three phases of 7 + 4 + 4, with teams needing to change their zones three times. The team needs to change the tournament area three times. Three stages to change three times the tournament area, the organization and reception and epidemic prevention and many other aspects of the work is a huge pressure, so few tournaments in the number of the league to maintain the impact of the team's competitive state are extremely detrimental to the sponsors is also a huge loss.
Detailed analysis of the feasibility of each option: across the year to play 30 rounds of tournaments, this system is prevalent in Europe, has also been proposed, but the actual operation is very difficult. There are two main reasons: first, it does not match the system of other Asian national teams, and can not be well coordinated and aligned with the Asian intercontinental tournaments; secondly, the northern teams do not have the exercise and playing conditions of the inter-annual competitions, and the northern teams can not have normal outdoor training and games from December to April of the next year, after all, the league can not always use the match system, and will certainly have to resume the system of home and away matches; once the scheduling of the matches is scheduled for June-July 2022, this will directly affect the overall planning of all teams.
Plus playing 22 rounds, this number of tournaments and the organization of the system is recognized by the clubs, especially the division of the end of the top stage into the title contenders and the relegation group, the top four of the two groups and the bottom four of the two groups form a different group, and only play against the four teams in the other groups similar to the home-and-away system, which is considered to be a better scheme than the knockout system of 2020. Moreover, this 22-round plan does not span years.
However, the current situation, want to implement such a tournament organization, also faces great difficulties and challenges. If you want to play a full 22 rounds, you have to play the remaining 9 rounds of the top stage before the national team trains again in August. On the premise that the national football team has requested to train in advance, this means that the league will be played in 3 days, which is a kind of intensity that the Chinese Super League clubs have never experienced before. More importantly, such intensive matches will be a huge test for the match broadcaster's staffing, the accuracy of the referee's enforcement, and the physical exertion and injury of the players. Whether or not these 9 rounds can be completed will directly determine how the next stage of the tournament will be organized and conducted. If these 9 rounds can be played, the remaining 8 rounds will have to be played within December. As once to make way for the International Competition Day on January 27, 2022, also need to reserve at least 20 days for the national team preparation time. 2022 February 1, there is the International Competition Day, followed by the New Year, February is still the opening of the international transfer window and the AFC Champions League teams to register time, if only in February to complete the game, the AFC Champions League teams are equal to the lack of winter training will be directly started in March the AFC Champions League journey, of course, the AFC Champions League teams can be like this year, the same as this year, the same as this year's AFC Champions League, the same as this year's AFC Champions League. AFC Champions League teams can send young players to participate as this year, but in the long run, the AFC Champions League quota for the Chinese Super League will be further reduced. 2021, from mid-July to August before the national football team training in a month to play 9 rounds of December to play 8 rounds of the quality of the league, broadcasting, tournament intensity, refereeing standards, etc., is the limit of the challenge. Therefore, the organization of 22 rounds, either across the year or not, are still dilemma.
[15 rounds, sponsors can't afford it]
So the third option left is to play only 15 rounds. If we only play 15 rounds, there are still 10 rounds left, two months is enough time to organize, but the top stage has already played 5 rounds, and we have to play 2 more rounds to change the tournament, and change the tournament every 4 rounds. This is a lot of tossing and turning, not to mention that it is unaffordable for the sponsors. Therefore, all things considered, the 22 rounds of league play, among the various imperfect systems, is relatively the most maneuverable and the most reasonable choice for teams, sponsors and the long-term development of the league.
Chen Xuyuan, chairman of the National Football Association, said in a recent interview with Xinhua News Agency about the league to follow two principles: first, the league is an important pillar of the national soccer, can not be sacrificed because of the national team and the league; secondly, during the national team's preparations and matches, the Chinese Super League shall not be constant, and the league that does not have the participation of the players of the national team will lose a lot of significance. "This year, how to carry out the Chinese Super League under special circumstances, we are studying three specific programs, but also to consult the views of the Chinese Super League clubs, and ultimately form a league program that we generally accepted."
In the current situation, it is difficult to find the perfect solution advocated by Chen Xuyuan, which guarantees the league and supports the national team's early preparation. There must be a compromise and concession, either the national team does not prepare for the game in advance, or a few days less in advance, to give the league to increase the organization of the space of one or two game days; or the league to make major concessions, in the high-intensity, high-intensity tournaments and cross-year tournaments in front of the second choice. And once so, this involves frequent entry and exit of the tournament, as well as once across the year, many internal and external aid contract expiration how to renew the contract and other issues, are problems.
Therefore, as far as the schedule adjustment is concerned, no matter which program is introduced, there will be dissatisfied voices, because there is no perfect solution. If we can see clearly the pros and cons as well as the logical relationship, more tolerance and understanding, the national team and the interests of the league tied together, seen as a consistent approach, the sacrifice is also for the national soccer itself, patience is also for the sake of a higher goal, may be many can not think of it will be figured out.
