Chinese Football Confederation President Chen Shuyuan revealed that the domestic league may start next June, but without some of his foreign players, most notably Brazilian Paulinho and Austrian Marco Arnatovic.
The league was scheduled to start on February 22nd, but the outbreak of the Corona virus, the main focus of which was Wuhan, prevented it and caused it to be postponed until further notice.
The president of the federation stated that the new season might start in late June, but in the absence of a number of foreign coaches and players due to the temporary measures related to entering the country.
"It is a real dilemma, because you know, a third of the foreign players and coaches are not back yet," he said to the official "CCTV" network.
"Frankly, we will take this matter into consideration when the matches start, but we will not wait for their return before we resume playing, otherwise it will be unfair towards the other clubs," he added.
"As long as we are ready in the matter of avoiding the epidemic and controlling it, we will do the activity," he said.
As of late March, China has prevented foreigners from entering the country even if they hold a work permit or an entry visa, in order to control the spread of the "Covid-19" epidemic.
Especially affected by this measure, the defending champion Guangzhou led by his Italian coach Fabio Cannavaro, and his runner-up Beijing Guoan when the Chinese League starts. Cannavaro returned the captain of the 2006 World Cup-winning team in Germany, but Brazil's former Barcelona star Paulinho and compatriot Talesca are still stranded outside the country.
In return, Guan missed his French coach Bruno Genizio, Brazilian Renato Agosto and Congolese striker Cedric Pacampo, while Arnatovic was unable to join the ranks of Shanghai Sepag, but the latter succeeded in returning the Brazilians Hulk and Oscar before banning foreigners from entering the country.
The president of the Chinese Federation revealed that the league matches will be behind closed doors before the public returns gradually, noting that the federation is working on competing in a short period of time.
China will not wait for the return of foreigners to complete the league
2020-05-08T12:36:03.813Z
Chinese Football Confederation President Chen Shuyuan revealed that the domestic league may start next June, but without some of its foreign players, most notably Brazilian Paulinho and Austrian Marco Arnatovic. The league was scheduled to start on February 22, but the new Corona virus outbreak that was
Source: emara