The Chinese Super League makes way for the national football team to participate in the top 12 matches
Chinese professional football ushered in the busiest second half of the year
In the preparatory work meeting of the Chinese Professional Football Clubs Federation held in Shanghai on the afternoon of July 5, the remaining matches of this season's professional leagues and the Football Association Cup schedule are the focus of the most attention of the representatives of all levels of clubs.
Judging from the final announcement of the competition plan, the Chinese Super League cooperated with the national football team to prepare for the top 12 matches, compress the schedule, and run the New Year's Eve are all expected.
It's just that because all level 3 professional clubs participate in the FA Cup this season, and the main match of the cup is interspersed with the intermission of leagues at all levels, the schedules of different events and stages are unprecedentedly close, which will inevitably increase the chances of players suffering accidental injuries. .
Chinese professional football may experience the busiest six months.
Such an arrangement will naturally not bring win-win results to Chinese football, and whether it is worthwhile to give way to the Chinese Super League, the top 12 results will give an objective answer.
"Chinese Football Association" begins preparations
On July 5th, the heads of the Chinese Super League, Chinese A, and Chinese B clubs were invited to participate in the preparatory work meeting of the Chinese Professional Football Club Federation at a hotel in Pudong, Shanghai.
Judging from the name, the topics of the conference are not unrelated to the preparation and establishment of the "Chinese Football Association".
The meeting also clarified the nature and positioning of the Chinese and English full names, abbreviations, and organization after the official operation of the Chinese Football Association in the future.
As for the composition of the leadership or senior management of the "Chinese Football Association", the club has already learned about it through various channels before the meeting.
For clubs at all levels, the most noteworthy issue is still how the rest of the league schedule runs.
The Chinese Football Association and the Chinese Football Confederation’s preparatory group (professional league preparatory group) did not confirm the schedule of the competitions until this meeting. The main reason is that after the Chinese team entered the top 12 matches, the national football team was affected by the epidemic, the personnel entry and exit epidemic prevention policy is strict, and the international Due to limited travel conditions and other factors, it is impossible to participate in the Super League from September to November this year.
Regarding the issue of whether the international team should participate in the league and how the league "gave way" for the national football team to prepare for the game, all parties have different interests and have different attitudes.
After the active communication between the Chinese Football Association, the professional league preparatory group and the Chinese Super League clubs in the early stage, all parties concerned about the reduction of the Chinese Super League from 30 rounds to 22 rounds this season. The remaining 6 rounds of the first stage of the Chinese Super League and the 5th round 2 make-up matches were concentrated in mid-July. In mid-August, the final eight rounds of the Super League will focus on detailed issues from early December to early January next year, and finally reach a consensus.
Another important basis for the consensus is that the Chinese Football Association, while fully supporting the national football team's preparations, is striving to take into account the interests of club competitions, including safeguarding the rights and interests of sponsors.
So this season's Football Association Cup schedule has become another focus of the Shanghai meeting.
The Football Association Cup schedule is the focus
In view of the fact that last season's FA Cup was affected by the epidemic, only some of the Super League and China A team participated, the Chinese Football Association and Ford Bo Company made it clear that in the process of designing the FA Cup competition plan for this season at the beginning of the year, they must ensure the widest possible participation in the event.
As the national football advances to the top 12 matches, the Chinese Super League cannot be played from September to November. The plan for the Football Association Cup main match to be arranged during this period of time was proposed.
According to the results announced at the meeting, all 42 teams from China A and China B will participate in the FA Cup preliminaries this season, and the two league teams will conduct preliminaries separately.
Among them, the Chinese second team will conduct two rounds of preliminaries on July 31st/August 1st and August 3rd/4th, and finally 6 teams will enter the FA Cup main match; the Chinese first team will be held in August From the 18th to the 20th, a preliminary round will be held and 9 teams will be produced.
Together with the Chinese Champions League champion team and 16 Chinese Super League teams, they will participate in the FA Cup this season.
According to the calendar, the next three stages of the China League A will be held from July 11 to August 17, September 3 to October 10, and November 17 to December 24; after the China League Two The three stages of the event will be held from June 27th to July 28th, August 29th to September 29th, and October 30th to November 30th.
Therefore, the Chinese A and B teams cannot participate in the FA Cup during September.
In addition, at the meeting yesterday, the Chinese Super League clubs decided to abandon participating in the FA Cup preliminaries in September by voting, and instead join the Chinese A and B teams to participate in the FA Cup main match from October.
Give way to the top 12 is worth it
After repeated communication, the Chinese Football Association finally confirmed that the main match of the Football Association Cup will be held from October 16th to November 13th/14th.
There are 32 strong competitions level by level, and 5 rounds of competition are required to produce a champion.
The five rounds of competition will be conducted in less than one month, and the density of competitions is no less than that of the remaining stages of the Super League.
Although the preparatory team of the professional league has set up alternative schedules for the final stage of the China League and China League two in response to accidents, it must be said that this season, regardless of the Chinese Super League clubs, or the China League One and China League two clubs in the next It will be busier than ever in half a year.
In the Chinese Super League, 9 rounds of matches (Guangzhou, Beijing Guoan, Henan Songshan Longmen, and Hebei still need to make up one match) in less than one month in the midsummer season, and one match is played every two days. The players To a certain extent, their health and safety are threatened.
Until the end of the Shanghai conference, controversies surrounding the technical issues of various competition schemes still existed objectively.
However, all parties have expressed support for the national football's impact on the World Cup in Qatar.
After the meeting, some representatives of the participating clubs bluntly said that this season is indeed extraordinary. If the Super League can run smoothly, it will be the greatest relief for all parties.
If the league can “give way” in exchange for the Chinese team’s top 12 competition, then such effort and even sacrifice will be worthwhile.
In addition to the unprecedented compactness of the schedule, the fairness of the Super League competition will inevitably be affected by the compression of the schedule and the adjustment of the competition system.
There is also a severe epidemic prevention situation that will test the event organizers, organizers, and participating parties.
Up to now, the Chinese Super League has no plans to change the division.
However, affected by the epidemic, the Chinese Super League will still adopt a centralized system for the next games.
As for whether the audience can enter the venue, it is still unknown.
Text/Reporter Xiao Geng Coordinating/Wang Haozhou