On the afternoon of March 1, the AFC announced through official channels that changchun Yatai, as the fourth place in the Chinese Super League last season, officially withdrew from the 2022 AFC Champions League. Judging from the current situation of the international and domestic epidemic situation, epidemic prevention regulations, international travel conditions, AFC Champions League quota allocation methods and competitive interests, Yatai Club's choice seems to be passive, but it is a wise move. Since the preliminary competition schedule of the Chinese Super League in the new season is likely to "collide" with the AFC Champions League group stage schedule, Yatai's practice of "protecting the Chinese Super League and abandoning the AFC Champions League" actually gives inspiration to Shandong Taishan, Shanghai Harbor and Guangzhou who have qualified for the AFC Champions League in the new season. It is also necessary for these three clubs to make a rational decision as soon as possible.
Around the Spring Festival, the Chinese Football Association, the Preparatory Group of the Chinese Football Federation and the clubs of the Chinese Super League have communicated many times on the schedule and format of the Chinese Super League competition in the new season. Last week, the Preparatory Group of the Chinese Football Association and the China Football Federation also informed the professional clubs at all levels in China of the general schedule and the selection plan for the new season of professional leagues at all levels, the FA Cup, and the club's U21 League through remote video conference. According to this plan, the new season of the Chinese Super League will be unveiled on April 23 and end on November 13. The group stage of the new season AFC Champions League East Asia Region will be held from April 15 to May 1, and the matches will be arranged in Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam and other AFC member association countries. Due to the "conflict" of the specific schedules of the two events, the four Chinese Super League clubs that have qualified for the AFC Champions League in the new season must make judgments on the weight of the competitive tasks of the Chinese Super League and the league, and design specific countermeasures accordingly. Prior to this, there are news that if the Clubs of the Chinese Super League confirm their participation in the AFC Champions League, they will repeat the number of ways for the Chinese Super League teams to compete in the AFC Champions League last season, that is, assign the second team or the youth army to deal with the AFC Champions League.
But at the beginning of this year, the Chinese Super League has fallen out of the top 10 in the AFC technology standings, and has fallen out of the top 4 in the East Asian region, and has even been surpassed by the Hong Kong League. One of the main reasons for the regression in the rankings is that the Chinese Super League teams have suffered a sharp decline in points in the Chinese Super League last season due to their handling of the AFC Champions League, while the opponents' league points have increased significantly. For example, the Hong Kong League of China benefited from the "double kill" of Guangzhou in the AFC Champions League group stage last season. If the Chinese Super League teams continue to "cope" with the youth team to "cope" with the AFC Champions League, then the Chinese Super League will further slide down the ranking list.
According to the AFC's existing scoring rules for the AFC Champions League, if a professional club team of a member association abandons its participation in a certain season of AFC Champions League matches, its AFC Champions League points for that season are "0". However, because there is no confrontation, the club teams of other member associations cannot take points from the abandoned association league club teams. In other words, "forsaking" is far less costly than dealing with a poor record. In this way, Yatai Club's choice to withdraw from the tournament is not unwise.
Of course, Yatai's decision to withdraw from the AFC Champions League in the new season is also related to objective factors outside the football field. For example, due to the impact of the epidemic, the mainland is still implementing relatively strict epidemic prevention regulations and regulations on the administration of epidemic prevention of personnel entering and leaving the country. Combined with the example of some members staying abroad for a long time due to the impact of the epidemic after the Beijing Guoan team visited Uzbekistan to participate in the AFC Champions League last season, the four Chinese Super League clubs that have qualified for the AFC Champions League in the new season should also be cautious about forming teams to visit and participate.
Since the group stage ended on May 1, the promoting teams will also participate in the AFC Champions League knockout round in August this year, and the venue of the match will not be arranged in the mainland, so even if the Chinese Super League team goes all out to compete in the AFC Champions League and enters the knockout round, it will also face the trouble of the league competition schedule being dismantled and scattered. For example, the Taishan team, the double champion of the Chinese Super League and the FA Cup last season, even if they attach importance to the AFC Champions League, they cannot give up the defending competition for the two major domestic competitions. In fact, the principle that "fish and bear paws cannot be combined" has long been very clear. This is also the reason why Tarzan Club once planned to arrange a mixed team of some first-team players and young echelon players to play in the AFC Champions League. However, once the AFC Champions League is not played well, it will have more negative impacts on the reputation of the club and Chinese professional football, which is obviously not wanted by the club, the Chinese Football Association and the Preparatory Group of the China Football Federation.
As of the afternoon of March 1, the other three Chinese Super League clubs that have qualified for the AFC Champions League for the new season have not publicly responded to similar issues. At present, among these 3 clubs, Guangzhou Football Club has previously terminated its contract with 5 active naturalized internationals. Plagued by the club's economic crisis, the rest of the main players are also facing departures. With the current personnel reserves in Guangzhou, let alone impacting the AFC Champions League, even maintaining competitiveness in the Chinese Super League is a difficult thing. From this point of view, if it withdraws from the AFC Champions League, then Guangzhou team can also alleviate its own operational pressure to a certain extent. As for the two relatively well-operated clubs of Taishan and Haigang, where to go in the AFC Champions League, they are also cautiously waiting and seeing.
Text/Beiqing Sports Xiao Zhao