Chinese Super League
Dropped to tenth in Asia
On February 16, the AFC has officially announced the venue of this year's AFC Champions League group stage, and three Southeast Asian countries, including Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam, will host the five groups in East Asia. However, perhaps Chinese fans and Chinese Super League clubs have not considered the deeper problem, that is, the reason why these three countries proposed to host, I am afraid that they do not only hope to help the AFC "break the siege", but also hope to use the home field to strive for good results in order to seek more places in the AFC Champions League. In contrast, the Chinese Super League, which once ranked first in Asia, has fallen to tenth place in Asia, and perhaps they will be more "humiliated" in this year's AFC Champions League.
1
AFC Champions League seats are allocated for a certain year
According to the decision of the first annual meeting of the Competition Committee held by the AFC in early January this year, the motion to "determine the allocation of seats in the AFC Champions League for the current year according to the results of the previous year's competition" was not passed, and the original principle of "converting the AFC Champions League results into technical points according to the results of the last four years of the AFC Champions League, and determining the allocation of AFC Champions League seats in the order of ranking" was maintained. That is to say, by the end of 2022, the AFC Competition Committee will count the results of the AFC Champions League and the AFC Cup in the four years of 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022, which will be converted into technical points, and then determine the allocation of seats in the 2024 AFC Champions League.
However, a completely new decision was made at this meeting. Previously, the AFC Competition Committee finalized the allocation of AFC Champions League seats in accordance with the "two-year cycle". For example, at the end of 2019, the AFC Champions League seats for 2021 and 2022 were finalized. Therefore, the Chinese Super League clubs have a dismal result in 2020, and in 2021, they only drew 1 game and won 1 point in 13 games, but it still did not affect the chinese Super League clubs' 2022 AFC Champions League participation, still "3+1".
However, during the meeting in early January this year, the delegates unanimously agreed that the future AFC Champions League seats will implement the principle of "one year certain". Specifically, after the end of the AFC Champions League and AFC Cup in 2022, according to the "Technical Point Ranking of AFC Member Associations", the AFC will finalize the allocation of seats in the AFC Champions League and AFC Cup in 2024; by 2023, the allocation of seats in 2025 will be finalized; and so on.
According to such changes, the number of places for Chinese Super League clubs to participate in the AFC Champions League in the future may be further reduced. Because in the "AFC Affiliate Association Technical Points Ranking" at the end of last year, the Chinese Super League has slipped to the seventh place in Asia and the third place in the East Asian region, and the seats participating in 2023 have become "2+2". If there is no change in the results in this year's AFC Champions League, it is inevitable that the technical points and ranking will decline further, and the number of places will naturally be further reduced.
2
Asia's "boss" plummeted to 10th
Don't look at it, don't know, look at it and be shocked. The Chinese Super League, which was once known as the "sixth league in the world", has fallen from "Asia's first" to "Asia's tenth" in the first "Technical Points Ranking of Member Associations" after entering 2022 after the end of the Golden Yuan era. What's even more incredible is that the Chinese Super League has now been overtaken by the Hong Kong Super League in Hong Kong, China, and the Vietnam League is even more close behind. And all of this is because of the result of the Chinese Super League "child's play" AFC Champions League.
At the end of last year, in the "AFC Member Associations Technical Point Rankings", the Chinese Super League was able to rank seventh in Asia, because the results of the AFC Champions League and the AFC Cup in the four years of "2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021" were calculated at that time. But after entering 2022, the results of 2018 will be removed. In 2018, when the Chinese Super League was still in the "Golden Yuan Era" and the top four of the Chinese Super League were still able to burn money to introduce super big-name foreign aid, the record was acceptable, and the three teams such as Shanghai SIPG, Tianjin Quanjian and Guangzhou Evergrande entered the round of 16, and the Quan Jian team also reached the top eight. So, that year's Chinese Super League club scored 16.200 points in terms of technical points. But after entering 2022, these 16.200 points were removed.
Therefore, in terms of the latest technical points, the Chinese Super League also relies on the 17.350 points obtained in 2019 to "support the façade". Due to the fact that the 2020 AFC Champions League results may not be included in the technical points, the Chinese Super League will only receive 0.800 points in 2021. Of those 0.800 points, including 0.300 from Harbour in the play-offs, Harbour was eliminated by the Philippine club due to the play-offs and failed to have more technical points. Guoan scored 1 point because he got a draw from the Philippine club, but because there were two teams in the Chinese Super League that competed in last year's AFC Champions League, it became 0.500 points. Thus, the total is only 0.800 points. Unified conversion into technical points, there are only 38.761 technical points.
Such points can only rank 10th in the entire Asian range. In contrast, Hong Kong, China, although they failed to qualify in the group stage of the AFC Champions League last year, but accumulated 11 points in 6 games, 3 wins, 2 draws and 1 loss, including 6 points scored in two victories over Guangzhou. The Guangzhou team, which once had a beautiful scenery in the AFC Champions League, played the role of "sending points boys", directly helping Hong Kong, China to surpass the Chinese Super League in the "AFC Member Association Technical Points Ranking Table". In addition, The Lee Man and the East team also performed well in the AFC Cup, the AFC second-tier club event, especially the Lee Man Team also reached the final four, which helped Hong Kong get 16.500 points last year, so the cumulative technical points converted reached 42.542 points, 3.781 points higher than the Chinese Super League.
3
The play will be surpassed by Vietnam
When the Chinese men's national football team lost historically to Vietnam 1-3 during the Spring Festival, it was difficult for the whole country to accept. But this year may also face a reality: if the four Chinese Super League clubs will continue to play, then this year's AFC Champions League, the Chinese Super League club will also lose a historic defeat to the Vietnamese club. This is by no means alarmist. The seats in the Chinese Super League in the 2024 AFC Champions League will also be surpassed by Southeast Asian countries such as Vietnam and Thailand, and I am afraid that it can only be "1+1", and it may even be only 1 team. With this background in mind, it is clear why the three Southeast Asian countries, Namely Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia, are fighting for the home games.
Judging from the current situation, Vietnam's Huang Ying Jialai will play Jeonbuk Hyundai, Yokohama Mariners and play-off winners, most likely Changchun Yatai or Australian Premier League Sydney FC. With the overall strength of the Huang Ying Jialai team, there is little hope of qualifying from the group, but there is still a chance to win one or two games at home. As long as you win one game, the technical points can fully surpass the Chinese Super League. If Yatai can cross the Sydney barrier and enter the main competition, the Huang Ying Jialai team may have their eyes on Yatai.
Facing Hong Kong Jiezhi last year, Guangzhou played the role of "sending points boys", and with the salary standards announced by the club, even the main squad that travels to Malaysia this year is likely to continue to play a similar role. This undoubtedly facilitates Malaysia's overtaking of the Chinese Super League. This year, the Harbor team, which is in the same group as The Jackie Team, if it continues to play as a reserve team member and a youth army, it will undoubtedly further consolidate Hong Kong's seat in the AFC Champions League.
Of course, this is not the Chinese Super League club willing to "play" the AFC Champions League, nor is it the Chinese Football Association or the China Football Federation (professional league) preparatory group hopes that the Chinese Super League club will deal with the AFC Champions League casually, but affected by the reality of the epidemic, the Chinese Super League club can only send reserve teams and youth troops to "cope" casually in the case of no skills, just like last year's Guoan team, Guangzhou team and Harbor team. Some people may question the Chinese Football Association and the preparatory group of the China Football Federation (professional league): why not turn the schedule away to ensure that the top four of the Chinese Super League play in the AFC Champions League with the strongest lineup? The problem is that after the fight, you need to implement the "14+7" quarantine policy when you return to China, and it will be late May. Then, it is simply impossible for the year's matches to be completed before the World Cup.
From a higher perspective, if the Chinese Super League clubs lose consecutively on the intercontinental field, international public opinion and football will not think that it is just a problem of the Chinese men's football team. Therefore, to solve this problem, the key is not in the FA. When football in other Asian countries and regions fully returns to normal, Chinese football can only carry out international exchanges normally if it fully returns to normal.