Homegrown players will be at risk with the absence of two foreigners. Infographic/Social Media
Today, the Chinese National Football League (CNFL) officially announced the schedule of matches for the first stage (14 rounds) of the 2021 season of the Chinese Super League (CSL), and the first match of the new season will be the city derby between Guangzhou and Guangzhou City, while Beijing Guoan will face Shanghai Shenhua and Shanghai Seaport in the first two rounds respectively.
Jinmen Tigers in the spotlight
According to the announced schedule, the first match of the new Chinese Super League season will kick off at 6 p.m. on April 20, with Chongqing Liangjiang Athletic and Shandong Taishan leading the way, but the real opener - the Guangzhou derby - will be held at 8 p.m. that night at the Tianhe Stadium.
The Tianjin Jinmen Tigers, who have experienced the "one foot in front of the door" fiasco, will face a strong opponent in their first game, which will be on April 22nd against the powerful Shanghai Harbor. As the Jinmen Tigers only regrouped on March 30, this team with incomplete personnel and insufficient preparation is regarded as the "weakest team in the Chinese Super League". The performance of Jinmen Tigers in the first match against Shanghai Seaport will be highly concerned.
Like last season, each round of the first phase of this season's Super League is scheduled over four matchdays, with four matches for Group A teams taking place on the first two matchdays and four Group B showdowns on the last two matchdays. In order to make way for the Top 40, the first phase of the Chinese Super League will go into a break after the fifth round (May 17), resume on June 21 and end on August 5 with all matches of the 14th round.
Bilic's new manager faces "testing times". Screenshot
Beijing Guoan in 2021 ushered in the new manager Bilic, the first two games of the new season will be the Croatian "test time": April 23, the first round of the Guoan team against Shanghai Shenhua; April 28 and Shanghai seaport showdown. Due to the national team training, foreign aid return to the team late and other factors, Guoan in the previous preparation period has been incomplete, Augusto and Fernando has not been able to return to China, the first two rounds of the "Beijing-Shanghai Derby" has become a test of Bilic's coaching skills.
It is worth mentioning that the "foreign aid balanced maintenance policy" adopted by the Chinese Super League last season will not be used this season, although there are still some Chinese Super League foreign aid failed to return, but the league will no longer adopt the "balanced maintenance", and will strictly implement the note 6, report 5, on the 4th of the The foreign aid policy will be strictly enforced. In this case, the teams that have not returned their foreign aiders will need to make their own adjustments to solve the problem.
Last season played in Changchun Yatai's foreign aid Sosa has been with Guoan trial training for a period of time, he can successfully join, will to a certain extent to alleviate the two Brazilian foreign aid did not return to the impact of Guoan.
