"I hope that everyone will tighten their belts, survive the hard days, and let our league attention be improved", this is the sincere call issued by Liu Jun, deputy head of the preparatory group of the China Football Federation, after the online work conference of the professional league on the afternoon of April 3.
Although so far, the schedule and venue arrangements of the new season of the Chinese Super League have not yet been confirmed due to factors such as the epidemic, but the preparations for the league at all levels have been carried out in an orderly manner. At the meeting, the Chinese Football Association announced the preliminary selection list of clubs at all levels in the new season, clarifying the period for clubs to pay off wage arrears and specific penalties for clubs that are overdue and unpaid wages.
The Chinese Football Association and the Preparatory Group of the China Football Federation also made it clear that although the eight rounds of the first stage of the Chinese Super League in the new season have been confirmed to adopt the group competition system, the restoration of the league home and away system is still the constant pursuit of the event organizers and league participants. Recently, the Preparatory Group of the China Football Federation also plans to pay the average participation fee of several million yuan per family in the 2021 season of the Chinese Super League, as well as the league dividends commonly known to the outside world, to all clubs. Through a series of practical measures, the Chinese Football Association and the Preparatory Group of the China Football Federation expressed the sincerity and confidence of working with all parties to enhance the appeal of domestic professional leagues, so as to rebuild the image of Chinese professional football.
On April 3, local time, the Chinese men's football team and the Chinese U23 men's football delegation set off from the United Arab Emirates to return home. Before boarding the plane, as the highest leader of the delegation's visit, Chen Shuyuan, chairman of the Chinese Football Association, once again instructed Shi Qiang, head of the preparatory team of the China Football Federation, to sincerely communicate with professional league clubs at all levels on the preparations for the start of the new season, and to promote the implementation of various league measures as soon as possible under the premise that all parties reached a consensus. The Notice of the Chinese Football Association on the Notice Related to the 2022 Season of the Chinese Super League, the Chinese League One and the Chinese Second League was officially released at the league work conference on the afternoon of the 3rd Beijing time in this context.
Although the final list of clubs in the 3rd Division Professional League is still awaiting feedback from each other, and although there are many complicated practical difficulties in assisting clubs and players to properly deal with the issue of wage arrears, the "Notice" still clearly writes out the time limit for resolving the problem of wage arrears and the specific penalties. In the words of one participant, "the Football Association, the Preparatory Group of the Chinese Football Federation and the clubs have a common interest in maintaining the league environment and ensuring the healthy start of the league as soon as possible." It is urgent to solve difficulties and punish chaos, but specific countermeasures cannot be one-size-fits-all, and it is necessary to be pragmatic. Similar expressions also appear from time to time in the mouths of Liu Jun, deputy head of the preparatory group of the China Football Federation, and Guo Bingyan, the head of the competition work of the preparatory group.
At the league meeting on the 3rd and the media communication meeting after the meeting, "difficulty" was a key word that was mentioned many times by the delegates. For example, due to the impact of the epidemic, the first eight rounds of the chinese Super League in the new season will inevitably adopt a group competition system. But even so, which clubs can participate will still need to be confirmed by the China Football Federation Preparatory Team's participation confirmation letter from the third-level clubs at the latest on April 8. And the ensuing problems such as league schedule arrangement and venue arrangement are also interlocked. In the new season, the Chinese Super League wants to straighten out the problems before May Day International Labor Day, and the implementation work is particularly complicated, which can be said that the time is tight and the task is heavy.
Equally difficult work is "how to stop losses in time, inject new vitality into the league, and rebuild the image of Chinese professional football." "Taking the Chinese Super League as an example, the league schedule in the past two seasons has been greatly compressed due to the impact of the epidemic, and the centralized competition system has also temporarily disappointed the desire of a considerable number of fans to watch the game on the spot, and under the action of various force majeure factors, the income of the Chinese Super League in the past two seasons has dropped sharply. As Liu Jun said, "The 2020 and 2021 seasons of the Chinese Super League adopt a tournament system, and there is much less contact with fans. The schedule was compressed a lot, which directly led to a decline in the revenue of various leagues, including copyright revenues. Fortunately, sponsor support for the league was generally stable, with the vast majority of receivables collected. Therefore, we also stepped up communication with them, trying to withstand the pressure and reduce deductions. In the new season, we will also try to save unnecessary expenses and achieve reasonable throttlement. ”
And rejuvenating the professional league, "open source" is far more important than "throttling". Liu Jun explains: "Since last year, we have adopted a multi-platform sales strategy in terms of copyright cooperation. We plan to add 1 to 2 new copyright platforms in the new year. It is our goal to increase revenue, expand influence, and increase sponsorship revenue in all aspects. ”
Liu Jun revealed that the china football federation preparatory team plans to distribute the participation fee of last season's league with an average of several million yuan per company to the clubs in the Chinese Super League in the near future. Compared with the tens of millions of yuan of single-season league "dividends" of Chinese Super League clubs a few years ago, these millions of yuan may seem insignificant, and they cannot fundamentally solve the economic crisis that plagues most clubs, but they can "send red envelopes" to clubs in the case of huge difficulties in the industry as a whole, and the Chinese Football Association and the China Football Federation Preparatory Group at least expressed their sincerity to work with clubs to tide over difficulties and actively improve the league situation. Liu Jun said, "It is not realistic to expect to use this money to solve the long-troubled club's salary arrears, but this fee can at least help the club maintain basic operations and help the teams maintain normal training." ”
Shi Qiang, head of the preparatory group of the Chinese Football Federation, also combined with the issue of the league format to show the original intention of the Chinese Football Association and the Preparatory Group of the Chinese Football Federation to "save the Chinese Super League brand". Shi Qiang revealed that in order to fully promote the restoration of the professional league home and away format. The Football Association and the preparatory team repeatedly sought the opinions of all parties, including the club. In his words, "As long as there is a chance, we will also restore home and away." Shi Qiang also explained that unlike the home-and-away system in the general sense of previous seasons, the league home-and-away system promoted in the 2022 season is the home-and-away system under the background of maintaining the normality of epidemic prevention and control. In other words, the premise of the league's resumption of home games must be based on epidemic prevention and control. He said: "For example, the league bubble epidemic prevention management model, nucleic acid testing and other measures. The content of our 'home and away system under the normal situation of epidemic prevention' is nearly 100 pages. The advice of the expert group, including the health and epidemic prevention department, was consulted before the plan was drawn. Because once the epidemic prevention problem goes wrong, the blow to our league is devastating. ”
Guo Bingyan, head of the competition work of the preparatory group of the China Football Federation, also stressed that an important reason for the "8+8+8+10" model in the new season of the Chinese Super League stage is precisely to cope with various unexpected situations and extreme situations. "This is actually the most secure competition format that can be switched at any time (conference system or home-and-away system). From our working point of view, we will definitely strive for the last 3 in the Chinese Super League this season, even if the last 2 stages are restored home and away, and the league needs to return to the city. The league is everyone's league, so all parties hope that the winter is shorter and the spring comes as soon as possible," Guo Bingyan said.
Text/Beijing Youth Daily reporter Xiao Zhao
Editor/Yingchuan Zhang