Affected by the epidemic, the national football team and U23 national football delegations that previously participated in the World Preliminary Tournament and dubai cup in Oman and the United Arab Emirates had to postpone their return time, so that the 2022 season of the Chinese Super League, which was originally scheduled to start on April 23, was destined to be postponed.
Although the Chinese Football Association, the China Football Federation and various clubs have hoped to resume home and away games, the current more realistic plan is to start the league with a tournament system.
National footballers will be suspended from returning home.
The national football team will return to China as soon as April 3
The national football team and the U23 delegation chartered a flight to Dubai, United Arab Emirates, where the U23 national football team participated in three Dubai Cup matches, while the national football team first played Saudi Arabia in Sharjah and then traveled to Muscat, Oman for the last World Preliminary Tournament.
The original plan was to return to Dubai from Muscat after playing the game, and then the two teams chartered a flight back to China, and the entry place was Shanghai.
However, due to the epidemic, the entire delegation had to adjust the entry city to Haikou City, the former training place, and because the implementation of the itinerary required time and a series of procedures, the two national teams now need to stay in Sharjah for several days, and it is expected that they will not be able to leave for china until around April 3 at the earliest.
As early as just after the Spring Festival holiday, the Chinese Football Association, the Chinese Football Federation and the Chinese Super League clubs have decided that the league will be officially launched on April 23, which is based on the entire itinerary of the National Football World Preliminary Round.
After playing the match with Oman on March 30, the entire delegation was originally expected to arrive in China on March 31, so counting the 14 days of quarantine and 7 days of home observation, the international players could return to the team normally on April 21, and the league officially started on the weekend of the 23rd, which was logical.
With the postponement of the return of the international football team, the Chinese Football Association and the China Football Federation are also adjusting the start date of the league, the Chinese Football Association and the Chinese Football Federation are still looking forward to the league to start as soon as possible, as long as the delegation does not stay in the UAE for too long, then the official start of the league around May Day will not be too big a problem.
The Shanghai Shenhua team of the Chinese Super League has begun to prepare for training.
The first stage of the Chinese Super League adopts the tournament system
The reason why the league needs to start as soon as possible is because with the expansion of the Chinese Super League to 18 participating teams this year, there is not enough time left for the league.
This year's entire league will end before the World Cup (November 21), and compared with the season that has finally shrunk in the past two years, the plan of this year's FA and CFA is to play all 306 league games in a double round- and complete.
If the overall time is compressed, it will inevitably mean that the interval between each round will be shortened, which is not conducive to the normal progress of the entire league.
For the specific format of this year's league, the Chinese Football Association, the Chinese Football Federation and the Chinese Super League clubs have all completed the restoration of the home and away system. Previously, the Chinese Super League clubs have identified at least two home stadiums on the one hand, and are also actively communicating with the competent departments of their cities to obtain a reply that allows them to host the games.
However, due to the recent repeated epidemics in many parts of the country, it is still very difficult for the league to return to home and away at the beginning.
In view of this, the first phase of the first phase of the tournament system is the most priority at present, considering that the league has 18 participating teams, the initial plan requires three cities, each city has 6 participating teams, so that 10 rounds of competition can be played first.
At present, in the selection of candidate cities, Wuhan will most likely become one of them, and the other two cities have yet to be finalized.