Reporter Chen Yong reported that on March 3, the deadline for the Chinese Football Association and the China Football Federation Preparatory Group to resume the collection of home and away investigation letters, clubs have submitted relevant investigation letters, and it is expected that the China Football Federation will announce the results of the investigation in the near future. According to the preliminary understanding of this newspaper, the support of local governments is an important factor in the resumption of home and away games in the league.
However, it should be noted that this investigation letter is only a preliminary consultation, mainly to understand the intentions and opinions of the club and the local government, in order to provide a decision-making reference for the subsequent promotion of home-away resumption. After all, things like local governments allowing home and away games to be opened and fans to enter cannot be finalized by an investigative letter.
It should be said that the resumption of home and away is expected, and this news has also triggered heated discussion among fans when it was revealed. Objectively speaking, if the Chinese Super League in the 2022 season is still a tournament system, the influence of the league may further decline, the rights and interests of investors cannot be fully protected, and stimulating investors' enthusiasm and confidence will become an empty word, so it is very important to restore home and away games.
However, in view of the current objective situation, local governments will have more aspects of thinking when considering the problem, and they also face greater difficulties, because the core of restoring the home and away stadiums is to open the stands, if this cannot be done, it is actually no different from the conference system, many clubs hold the same opinion, and pay special attention to letting fans enter.
In this case, in order to truly restore the home and away games, in addition to the final approval, the Chinese Football Association and the Preparatory Group of the China Football Federation also need to apply to the relevant departments to issue clear guiding opinions, so that all localities have no worries.
For example, under what circumstances can it not be opened to fans? Under what circumstances? What is the target of opening up to fans, is it only allowed to local fans, or is it allowed to all fans in low-risk areas to enter the game? What are the relevant work processes such as security inspections and epidemic prevention inspections, as well as other relevant guidance opinions, with strong operational guidance opinions, all localities can operate according to regulations without doubt.
In addition, some clubs in the Chinese First Division and the Chinese Second League also have their own doubts, such as some small clubs actually do not have a ball market, and the home and away games have increased their investment, because it will involve venue costs and security costs.
As for the promotion of the league itself, the current difficulty is still whether the new salary restriction order is landed, as well as the transfer window and access review, etc., other rules of the league are gradually being formulated, such as promotion and relegation, after two consecutive years of no direct relegation, the 2022 season intends to set 2 to 3 direct relegation places, generally speaking, the international practice of 18 teams is 2.5 places, but the Chinese Football Association and the Chinese Football Federation have no intention of taking a play-off method in the 2022 season.
The U23 policy has not yet been cancelled, and the normal will be renewed in the new season. The number of foreign aid places is also basically determined to continue the policy of last season, but the registration quota, the Football Association and the Preparatory Group of the Chinese Football Federation have considered, if the final decision to restore the home and away games, do not rule out the possibility of recovery from 35 to 30 people. Last season, taking into account the needs of the tournament system and intensive schedule, the number of applicants in the Chinese Super League increased from 30 to 35.