The Chinese Super League’s (CSL) 2020 season finally kicks off on Saturday, five months after it was meant to start. Measures put in place to combat the spread of the novel coronavirus saw all sport called off and the February 22 start date for the CSL came and went.
As the months have gone by there have been waves of hope that football would return and it had been reported that the league may kick off as soon as mid-April.
Those hopes were subsequently dampened with false starts and fears that there may be no 2020 season at all. That there might not be any football at all came to light last month, after several CSL proposals had been rejected by the General Administration of Sport and Center for Disease Control and Prevention before one last throw of the dice.
Chinese Football Association (CFA) President Chen Xuyuan then explained that there might have to be a change of format for the league to go ahead. That is exactly what they sent for approval in the final attempt to get the season off the ground.
That was the one that saw the CSL given the green light to play, with plans approved to base the teams and officials in two groups based in Dalian and Suzhou for the first half of the season. This is similar to the basketball league’s plan to restart, which has seen the regular season resumed behind closed door in Qingdao and Dongguan.
Stringent measures
The CSL’s approved plan also included stringent coronavirus measures, which CFA chief Chen explained had been put in place to ensure the league could go ahead.
“We discussed the program at length in order to guarantee that the CSL will register no COVID-19 cases. We have taken strict prevention measures,” Chen said earlier this month.
COVID-19 tests will be given to players once per week, with players, staff and officials restricted to stadiums and their hotels outside training and matches. Xinhua reported that CSL newcomers Qingdao Huanghai were the first team to arrive at their hotel with all teams in place by July 20.
Not only are there strict protocols but the punishments for breaking them are equally strong. Officials have already warned that teams breaching them risk being expelled from the league.
The total of 1,870 players, coaches and staff were given nucleic acid tests and all came back negative by Wednesday, confirming that games will finally go ahead as planned.
That was great news for the likes of Shandong Luneng midfielder Marouane Fellaini who had been revealed to have tested positive for coronavirus when he returned to China from Europe in March. At the beginning of the year, the big Belgian was in preseason training with his Shandong teammates in Guangzhou and then Dubai, where they landed on January 28. Fellaini, who joined the CSL side from Manchester United, also scored all of his club’s goals in their four warm-up matches.
Season openers
Preseason feels like a long time ago now. Wuhan Zall had the worst of all, spending more than 100 days outside of the city after leaving for a training camp in Guangzhou and then in Spain. While in Spain they struggled to play friendlies as teams backed out because of fears over COVID-19.
They will play on Saturday. Fittingly, they are one of the first teams in action and they will play newly promoted Qingdao Huanghai. The newcomers have had their own struggles with coach Juanma Lillo, who had guided them to promotion, leaving and his replacement Pablo Machin only being confirmed this week.
Their meeting is Saturday’s second game with the season opener coming between CSL champions Guangzhou Evergrande and Chinese FA Cup winners Shanghai Shenhua.
Soon all of the teams will be back in action.
So far only the first half of the season has been confirmed, with games from July 25 until late September in the host cities. Fixtures are scheduled to be played from the opening game until September 29, with 112 games over the 14 rounds. That will then see the CSL break ahead of China’s FIFA World Cup 2022 qualifiers, which take place in October and November.
This year only the bottom team goes straight down to League One with the team finishing above them facing a playoff with the second tier runner-up, although relegation need not be the end of a club’s time in the top flight.
Shenzhen were relegated last season but have found themselves returning to the top table after Tianjin Tianhai, who finished four points and one place above them in 14th, disbanded during the off season. Several Tianhai players, who were free agents after their club folded, have moved on in what has been a rather muted transfer window by recent standards.
Hard to predict
One thing is for sure, it will be hard to predict how the CSL will go.
There are concerns over a lack of match fitness, with no competitive action in China since December, and the fact that many of the foreign players and coaching staff have only recently returned to China and faced quarantine before meeting up with their teammates.
Former China international Zhao Junzhe, who now works as the chief executive of newly promoted Shijiazhuang Ever Bright, also requested that CSL organizers help players to relax during their hotel-based isolation.
If the players are anything like the fans, they will be happy enough to get back to the football.
Hulk of Shanghai SIPG Photo: VCG
