After the East Asian Football Federation and the Japan Football Association announced through official channels on the morning of April 19 that the men's and women's football matches of the 2022 East Asian Football Championship (commonly known as the "East Asian Cup") would be held in Japan from July 19 to 27, the Chinese Football Association also designated the 1999 age group U23 national football team and the Chinese women's football team to participate in the East Asian Cup through the official micro confirmation of the "Chinese Football Team" in the afternoon of the same day. It is understood that in order to cooperate with the U23 national football team to participate in the East Asian Cup and the Hangzhou Asian Games football matches, the Chinese Football Association and the Preparatory Group of the Chinese Football Federation have considered reserving time for the team to prepare and compete during the new season of the Chinese Super League. In other words, the Chinese Super League may be temporarily suspended during and for a period of time before and after the above two international competitions. This is bound to bring more difficulties to the schedule of the Chinese Super League in the new season.
According to the information released by the official channels of the East Asian Football Federation, the 2022 East Asian Cup will be held from July 19 to 27. Affected by the epidemic, the venue of the event was changed from China to Japan. As early as early April this year, before the national football team and the U23 national football team returned to China, the Chinese Football Association had confirmed the appointment of the U23 national football team to participate in the East Asian Cup football tournament, thus training for the men's football competition of the upcoming Hangzhou Asian Games in September.
It is understood that after being eliminated from the top 12 of the World Preliminary Round in Asia by Qatar, the Chinese men's football team has no other major event tasks this year. The preparation and competition of the U23 National Football Asian Games has become the primary responsibility of the Chinese Football Association's national men's football team this year, and the Chinese Football Association is also mainly led by the association to grasp the preparation of this team. The association will also "ensure" the smooth preparation of the U23 national football team in accordance with the specifications of the original support for the preparation of the national football team for the World Preliminary Tournament.
FiFA and AFC calendars show that the East Asian Cup is not scheduled for the FIFA International Matchday cycle. The Hangzhou Asian Games football match cycle is from September 7 to 25, while the international match day cycle of the month is September 19 to 27, which means that the Asian Games football matches are scheduled outside the international competition cycle.
So, during the East Asian Cup and the Hangzhou Asian Games men's football match, is the Chinese Super League going on normally? Prior to this, some people within the organizers of the professional league had proposed that during the two competitions, the Chinese Super League and the Chinese League One would proceed as usual, and "compensate" the U23 international football clubs through the preferential policy of appropriate personnel appearance. However, at present, the vast majority of players in the U23 national football team are the main players or main substitutes of various clubs, such as Zhu Chenjie from Shenhua and Dai Weijun from deep foot. Moreover, the U23 national football team may recruit a small number of overage players into the team according to the rules during the Hangzhou Asian Games. In this case, once the league does not stop during the above two competitions, it is possible to cause a loss of strength to some clubs, especially clubs like Shenhua, which have a relatively large number of U23 internationals, resulting in unfair league competition.
In this case, the tournament organizers had to reconsider and set aside time for the U23 national football team to participate in two international competitions during the professional league.
It should be noted that the Chinese Football Association and the Preparatory Group of the China Football Federation have made every effort to strive for the start of the new season of the Chinese Super League around May 7. However, due to the impact of the epidemic, the two Shanghai teams of Shenhua and Haigang have no specific timetable for when they can leave Shanghai for the league division. The selection process for the division is still intense. Therefore, if the Chinese Super League can start in mid-May, it is already an ideal result.
The postponement of the league start date means that the space for scheduling will be further squeezed. Once the Chinese Football Association and the China Football Federation Preparatory Group confirm that the U23 national football team has reserved time for the competition, then the Chinese Super League is likely to face a long suspension from the second half of July to the beginning of August and the whole month of September. If the Chinese Super League wants to play all 34 rounds, the difficulty of scheduling can be imagined. At present, the first stage of the Chinese Super League has confirmed the use of the group stage centralized system, and if the league can not start in mid-May, then due to various factors, the league is likely to face the use of the tournament system throughout the season.
As of April 19, the schedule of the new season of the Chinese Super League has not yet been confirmed, and the Chinese Football Association and the China Football Federation Preparatory Group also need to use the limited time to make relatively reasonable arrangements as soon as possible, and think twice on the issue of "whether the league makes way for the national brand".
Text/Beijing Youth Daily reporter Xiao Zhao