CSL may resume with different format, says Chinese football chief Chen

Chen Xuyuan, president of the Chinese Football Association (CFA), said on Thursday that the 2020 Chinese Super League (CSL) may kick off in late June, with a different format, after months of postponement.

Chen, who became the new head of the CFA last year, revealed the CFA has been working on the preparation of national teams, the guidelines of China's football reform, and institutional reform, along with different plans for the suspended CSL.

The new season of the CSL was slated to begin on Feb 22, but was forced to be postponed because of the raging coronavirus.

According to Chen, the Chinese football governing body has designed three different formats in response to the postponement.

"Plan A is to finish the season with 30 rounds. We have a plan B if the league were to kick off in late June and finish in December, and we have also designed plan C for a later restart," Chen said.

"If we carry out plan B, we will actually only have four months because of the calendar of the national team and AFC Champions League, given that, we may divide the 16 teams into two groups, and decide the champion and relegations through two phases.

"There are twin pillars of the plans, firstly, we will resume the league once we meet the medical protocols, and secondly, the league needs adjustments to guarantee quality of the matches. Matches early in the season will be played without fans in attendance, and we will open the doors gradually," he added.

International fixtures too have been on hiatus due to the pandemic including the second round of the 2022 FIFA World Cup Asian Qualifiers which should have concluded in June.

The 63-year-old Chen disclosed that the remaining four matches of Team China are expected to be played from September to November.

"We have been communicating with the AFC and FIFA over the past two months, it is almost certain that the second round of the 2022 FIFA World Cup Asian Qualifiers will be finished during that period, and our team is also preparing for it based on this calendar."

"The prevention of the pandemic is still the priority. We have eased the restrictions in China, but the situations abroad are still severe. We have four fixtures left including one away fixture against Guam, thus we should also follow the local medical protocols," Chen cautioned.

Chen also mentioned the Chinese women's football team who managed two wins and one draw in the previous Olympic qualification round.

"The two-legged playoffs set to kick off in early 2021 are incredibly important, we will try the best we can to secure a spot in Tokyo 2020," he emphasized.

The former president of Shanghai International Port Group (SIPG) also called on the players from the Chinese professional leagues to cut salaries temporarily as most of the clubs are struggling with financial difficulties amid the pandemic.

Chen insisted that financial balance was the cornerstone for a healthy football league, admitting that few clubs in China have the ability to make profits.

"We recognize the economic impact that the pandemic brought to the investors. As the governing body of Chinese football, we should help them through regulations to reduce the basic and extra expenditures, rather than support them with cash subsidy. That method is not available as well," he said.

"We have enacted an official proposal that under sufficient discussions between respective clubs and players, pay cuts should be implemented in a reasonable proportion, from 30 to 50 percent."

In the blueprint of the CFA, a professional league committee, formed at the end of 2019 to control the CSL, will be handed over by the CFA to the clubs in an effort to encourage its commercial development.

However, it has raised doubts as the professional league committee is still in the air. Chen shrugged off rumors suggesting that the CFA were unwilling to decentralize.

Chen insisted: "That is not correct. Actually we have made adjustments to our original plan. We are finalizing the chapters, and the professional league committee will be set up within the next month or two."

"The CFA would no longer be involved in the day-to-day operation of the league, instead functioning as a supervisory body," he added.