On July 5, 2021, a key meeting kicked off in Shanghai with the heads of the Chinese Super League, Chinese First Division and Chinese Second Division salons. The core topic of the meeting was to discuss the scheduling of the three tiers of professional leagues and the FA Cup for the 2021 season.
Chen Xuyuan, Chairman of the FA, and Shi Qiang, head of the Preparatory Team of the CFL, were personally present, while Liu Jun, deputy head of the team, presided over the meeting. Numerous chief executives of Chinese Super League, Chinese First Division and Chinese Second Division salons also gathered.
At the beginning of the meeting, the progress of the preparatory work of the China Professional Football Salon Federation was introduced in detail. Afterwards, the participants elected the salon representatives for the preparatory group of CFF according to the different groupings of Chinese Super League, Chinese First Division and Chinese Second Division.
After intense voting, ten representatives, including Li Ming (Beijing Guoan), Wu Xiaohui (Shanghai Shenhua), Li Jun (Hebei Football), Dai Jiling (Henan Songshan Longmen), Huang Shenghua (Guangzhou City), Fu Qiang (Kunshan), Yao Xia (Chengdu Rongcheng), Wu Hailer (Nanjing City), Jia Les (Guangxi Pingguo Hazhou), Wang Chao (Shaanxi Terracotta Beyond) and other representatives stood out, who will be involved in important decisions made by the preparatory group of the CFF. They will participate in the important decisions of the CFF Preparatory Group and contribute to the prosperity of the professional league.
During the meeting, the salon representatives had a lively discussion and finally decided to make major adjustments to the schedule and system of the 2021 season of the Chinese Super League.
The new season of the Super League will be divided into two stages. In the first stage, a double round-robin points system will be implemented according to the current Group AB, with a total of 14 rounds and 112 matches.
In the second stage, according to the points ranking of each group in the first stage, the top four of Group A and the top four of Group B will form the "Championship Group", which will have two rounds of matches; while the bottom four of Group A and the bottom four of Group B will form the "Relegation Group", which will also have two rounds of matches. A total of eight rounds and 64 matches were played at this stage.
In the end, the teams with the higher point totals (including the first stage points) will be ranked higher in their respective groups, with the top eight teams in the "Championship Group" becoming the top eight teams in the league this season, and the top eight teams in the "Relegation Group" becoming the ninth to sixteenth teams in the league.
Accordingly, the match schedule for the 2021 Premier League season has been updated: the first phase of matches, rounds 6 to 14 and five byes, will be played from July 15th to August 12th. The second phase of the competition, which will be played from December 1, 2021 to January 3, 2022, has been updated.
In addition to the adjustments to the system and schedule of the Chinese Super League, the schedules of the Chinese First League and the Chinese Second League have also been fine-tuned. For example, the second phase of the Central League A was adjusted from July 2 to August 8 to July 11 to August 17, and the third to fourth phase was adjusted accordingly.
In addition, the competition organization plan for the 2021 CFA Cup was officially announced during the meeting.
preliminary stage
A total of 42 teams will participate in the tournament, including 18 teams from the Central League and 24 teams from the Central B League. There will be two rounds of preliminaries for the second division, with six teams advancing to the main round of the AFC Cup. The preliminaries for the first division will be played in one round, with nine of the 18 teams advancing.
championship stage
A total of 32 units are competing, including 16 in the Super League, nine in the First Division, six in the Second Division and one in the Championship. The tournament will be divided into several stages, culminating in a final on November 13/14th.
