Tomorrow afternoon, the Shenhua team will have a rousing departure ceremony at the Kangqiao camp. After the ceremony, the team will embark on their journey and take a bus to Suzhou, where they will officially move into the Tai Mei Xianggu Li Hotel. Shenhua will face Beijing Guoan on April 23rd in the opening game of the new season.
Looking back at the 2021 season, there are 32 players registered in Shenhua's first team. However, not all of them will travel with the team to Suzhou. Zhu Chenjie is expected to miss all the matches in the first phase of the league due to his recovery from surgery. Zhu Yue and He Longhai, on the other hand, are tasked with the responsibility of representing Shanghai and Guangdong in the National Games qualifiers. As a result, 29 Shenhua players are expected to travel to Suzhou tomorrow.
Shenhua broke the tradition of previous years by arranging the departure ceremony at the Kangqiao base and inviting many fans to participate. Fans were able to witness the team's last training session before departure, and had the opportunity to take photos in the Shenhua press conference room to cheer on the team.
Today, the CFA announced the referees for the first round of the league. The much-anticipated Shenhua-Guanan match will be officiated by Wang Jing from Guizhou, with Jin Jingyuan as the VAR video assistant referee. Wang Jing has been refereeing in the Chinese League B since 2012, the Chinese League A since 2014, and the Chinese Super League since 2016, and was promoted from national referee to international referee along with Li Haixin in 2019.
