China News Network client Beijing, May 8 (Bian Liqun) Chinese football on the evening of the 7th, collectively set their sights on the Football Association Chairman Chen Xuyuan who appeared on TV publicly. Whether it is the team, players, media or fans, they want to dig out the latest developments in Chinese football from his expression.

Data Map: Chen Xuyuan spoke at the 11th Football Congress. Photo courtesy of the Chinese Football Association

  In a section of CCTV, Chen Xuyuan responded to the four focus issues of the league start plan, the player's salary reduction, the national youth kicking the second team, and the professional league preparation. Although the half-hour interview was full of dry goods, it still gave people a sense of unfinished feeling.

  Compared with the news of salary cuts, the National Youth kicking the second team, and the national team preparations, the most important news is that the Chinese Super League may be grouped in the new season. If it comes true, this is the first time in 27 years since the professionalization of the Chinese Football League in 1994, which is to some extent subversive.

Data map: Chen Xuyuan. Photo courtesy of the Chinese Football Association

Helpless move

  According to Chen Xuyuan's assumption, the new season of the Chinese Super League may take place from the end of June to the end of December. He also calculated an "account": Suppose the league started in mid-June and there will be half a year of game time by mid-December. During this period, there is one month left for the national team to prepare for the World Preliminaries, and one month to the AFC Champions League. Without counting the FA Cup, there is only 4 months left for the Super League, which is almost impossible to complete the 30 rounds of the league.

  Of course, the premise of these expectations is that the requirements for epidemic prevention and control must be met. If the "Last Node" at the end of June or early July has not yet opened a new season, the fear is not only that the group match is so simple, but the schedule will be further adjusted.

Compared with the past, this year's Super League may be adjusted to a certain extent due to the epidemic. The picture shows that Guangzhou Evergrande player Wei Shihao is in the game.

  The dilemma faced by the Chinese Super League at this time has to be reminiscent of the 2003 A-A League. Affected by SARS, the A-League season A was forced to be interrupted after the sixth round. After nearly three months of offseason, it was not restarted until early July. At that time, the remaining 24 rounds of games were compressed into 5 months, some of which were only 2 days apart, and the final season ended on November 30.

  Compared to that time, the situation facing the Super League this season is more complicated. The first is that the game has not yet started, as many as 30 rounds of competition are going to take place. Secondly, it is still unknown whether this ideal node will start at the end of June or the beginning of July. Once this node is exceeded, it will be very difficult for the Chinese Super League to be completed within the year.

  According to the current plan given by the Football Association, the league's New Year's Eve is basically not considered. After all, considering the distribution city of the Chinese Super League team, there are many difficulties in the winter game. So under multiple factors, the new season's Super League group game may be a helpless move with a high probability of being adopted.

For a northern team like the Dalian People, in the cold winter game, it will be a huge test for players and fans. Data map: Dalian team player Wang Yaopeng (left) in the game. China News Agency reporter Chen Jimin

How to group games is a difficult choice

  The general direction of the Super League is very clear, but how to group and how to play is really a complicated selection problem.

  Chen Xuyuan revealed that the league will be divided into two groups, A and B, according to the ranking. The first stage will be a cross match, and the second stage will be a knockout. After the first stage of grouping, the top 4 teams in the two groups form the championship group, and the remaining 8 teams form the relegation group.

  This is similar to changing the Super League to the regular season and playoff nature. For each team, whether it is the first stage or the second stage, the outcome of each game will be decisive. Compared with the previous round-robin system, the room for the championship and relegation teams to make mistakes will be greatly reduced.

  The first problem faced by this system is how to group the teams. If they are grouped according to the league rankings of last season, they may adopt the snake-shaped ranking principle of the early Chinese Football Association when scheduling the schedule (see the figure below for grouping). The balance of power is relatively fair.

Grouped according to the ranking of the last season

  In addition to scoring according to achievements, in the special context of the epidemic, taking the North-South division is actually one of the options that can be considered. In this way, the distance of each team's away game can be greatly reduced, and high-speed rail, automobile and other safer transportation methods can be adopted at the current stage. In the intensive schedule, also reduced the long journey of each team.

  But the disadvantage of this is that the strength of the two groups will appear unbalanced. For example, the South District is likely to gather three AFC Champions League teams in Guangzhou Evergrande, Shanghai Shanggang and Shanghai Shenhua, while the North Zone has only one AFC Champions League team in Beijing Guoan. In addition, Qingdao Huanghai and Shijiazhuang Yongchang two newly promoted horses are in the North District group. It is indeed not fair for the first-stage grouping to decide whether to compete for championship or relegation.

Group by North and South Division

  In addition, how to play after grouping is also a problem. If the first stage adopts a cross-match approach, how should the second stage decide the competition and relegation fate?

  If the cross-match is continued, then each team will play 14 games in the second stage, plus the first stage, each team will play 28 games throughout the season, which is only 2 fewer than the original 30 league games. In this way, it is against the original intention of the group competition, and it does not make much sense to change the system.

  If there is no cross match in the second stage, the mode of the China B playoffs will be adopted, similar to the double-round knockout mode with Group A 1st against Group B 4th, Group A 2nd against Group B 3rd. There will be 20 games, which meets the need to shorten the schedule.

  However, this will result in a sudden increase in the chance of contention and relegation. Some teams that could have competed or relegated often lost the championship or fell into the relegation abyss because of a game. In terms of contention, such a system is very exciting, but for the relegation team, it is too cruel.

For the eight teams in the relegation group, relegation will have a great chance. Data map: Tianjin Tianhai players compete for the ball. Photo by Tuobo

  Chen Xuyuan revealed that although a third of the foreign aid has not arrived, and some coaches have failed to return to the team, they cannot wait for them all to arrive at this stage. As long as the epidemic prevention situation permits, a new season will start.

  Against this background, the chance of competition in the new season will further increase. But at a special stage, it can only seek relative fairness, and the final plan will also be based on this principle. According to the expectations of the end of June and the beginning of July, there is really little time left for the Football Association to make multiple choice questions. For the Chinese Super League teams, the new season will face a very complicated situation, and the test may be unprecedented. (Finish)