Shanghai (AFP)
The teams of the Chinese Premier Football Division (CSL) were finally able to leave the hotels where they had been confined for ten weeks on Monday, as part of strict measures aimed at thwarting the new coronavirus pandemic.
Players, coaches and staff, who have not seen their families since mid-July, were only allowed to leave hotels to play matches and train.
Eight of the sixteen championship teams were in a single hotel in Suzhou, near Shanghai (east).
The other eight were in a hotel in the northeastern city of Dalian.
The players will now return home, before the second phase of the CSL's 2020 campaign begins on October 16, still in Suzhou and Dalian.
No infection was reported during the first phase: the defending champions Guangzhou Evergrande, led by Fabio Cannavaro, took the lead in the group gathered in Dalian while Shanghai SIPG occupy that of the group of Suzhou.
"When you arrive before the start of the season for ten weeks in a hotel in Dalian, your first thought is: + it's going to be very hard, it's hard for everyone +", said Giovanni van Bronckhorst, the former FC Barcelona player, now Guangzhou R&F coach.
"For everyone, it was a great effort to be fresh and focused. But the time went by very quickly," he said.
Each team played two matches per week, the season, postponed for five months, having started behind closed doors on July 25 to limit the risk of infection with Covid-19.
A small number of supporters have since been allowed to return to stadiums in Dalian and Suzhou.
Team hotels were equipped with libraries, hair salons, karaoke machines and arcade games, among other things.
Alcohol was banned, however, after the Chinese Football Association admitted before the meetings began that it was concerned about the mental health of those in the bubble.
In the second phase, the teams will play knockout matches in two rounds, with the future champion expected to be crowned on November 12.
© 2020 AFP