Chinese Super League season to start on July 25

BEIJING - The Chinese Football Association (CFA) announced on Wednesday that the postponed Chinese Super League (CSL) 2020 season, which was originally scheduled to begin on February 22, will kick off on July 25.

Suzhou, in South China's Jiangsu province, and Dalian, in the northern Liaoning province, have been selected as the two host cities to start the season, said the CFA, without mentioning a specific league format in the statement.

The Chinese top flight is reportedly to be contested behind closed doors. The 16 teams will be divided into two groups, which will follow the traditional home-away round robin format, with the top four teams in each group moving into Final A and the bottom four falling into Final B.

Chinese football's governing body also said that the CSL will open its second transfer window of the season from July 2 to July 29, while the third window will cover the entire month of September. The first transfer window concluded on February 28.

According to the CFA, each CSL club can register a total of five transfers without age restrictions during the three windows, while transfers of Under-21 players, players returning to their club from overseas and players who come from disbanded clubs will be exempt from such conditions.

In addition, each CSL club can register no more than six foreign players in the first two windows. A maximum of seven foreign players can be registered after all three transfer windows are closed.

The schedules of China's second- and third-tier professional football leagues have not been decided yet.