Yatai “guarantee the Chinese Super League and abandon the AFC Champions League” Shandong Taishan team, Shanghai Haigang team, and Guangzhou team have not yet made a choice
Yatai withdraws from the AFC Champions League and continues to decline in the Super League ranking?
On the afternoon of March 1, the AFC announced through official channels that, as the fourth place in the Chinese Super League last season, the Changchun Yatai team officially withdrew from the 2022 AFC Champions League. Judging from factors such as the current situation of the international and domestic epidemic, international travel conditions, the allocation method of the AFC Champions League, and the competitive interests, the choice of Yatai Club seems passive, but it is a wise move. Due to the high probability of “collision” with the AFC Champions League group stage schedule for the Chinese Super League in the new season, Yatai’s practice of “protecting the Chinese Super League and abandoning the AFC Champions League” actually gave the Shandong Taishan team that qualified for the AFC Champions League in the new season. , Shanghai Haigang team, Guangzhou team to inspire. It is also necessary for these three clubs to make a rational decision as soon as possible.
race crash
“Cope with” the AFC Champions League with the youth team
Chinese Super League rankings will fall further
Before and after the Spring Festival, the Chinese Football Association, the preparatory group of the Chinese Football Federation and the clubs of the Chinese Super League had communicated many times on issues such as the competition schedule and competition system of the Chinese Super League in the new season. Last week, the Chinese Football Association and the preparatory team of the Chinese Football Federation also informed domestic professional clubs at all levels of the general schedule of the new season’s professional leagues, FA Cups, and club U21 leagues through remote video conferences. According to this plan, the new season of the Chinese Super League will be unveiled on April 23 and will end on November 13. The East Asia region group stage of the new season AFC Champions League will be held from April 15 to May 1. The games will be arranged in Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam and other AFC member associations. Due to the “conflict” between the specific schedules of the two competitions, the four Chinese Super League clubs that have qualified for the AFC Champions League in the new season must make judgments on the importance of the competition tasks of the Chinese Super League and the league, and design a specific response plan accordingly. Prior to this, it was reported that if the clubs of the Chinese Super League confirmed their participation in the AFC Champions League, they would repeat the number of Chinese Super League teams to compete in the AFC Champions League last season, that is, assign the second team or the youth team to deal with the AFC Champions League games.
However, at the beginning of this year, the Chinese Super League has fallen out of the top 10 in the AFC technical points rankings, and has also fallen out of the top 4 in the East Asia region, and has even been surpassed by the Hong Kong League of China. One of the main reasons for the decline in the rankings is that the points of the Chinese Super League team fell sharply due to the AFC Champions League last season, while the points of the opponent league increased significantly. For example, the Hong Kong League of China achieved a high score thanks to the “double play” of the Guangzhou team in the AFC Champions League group stage last season. If the Chinese Super League teams continue to “deal with” the AFC Champions League games with youth teams, the Chinese Super League will fall further in the rankings.
Team weighs
Abandoned season AFC Champions League zero points
Withdrawal is also related to the epidemic
According to the existing scoring rules of the AFC in relation to the AFC Champions League, if a professional club representative team of a member association gives up participating in the AFC Champions League games in a certain season, then its AFC Champions League points for that season will be “0”. However, because there is no confrontation, the club teams of other member associations cannot take points from the league club teams of the abandoned associations. In other words, “abandoning” is far less costly than dealing with a poor game record. In this way, Yatai Club’s choice to retire is not unwise.
Of course, Yatai’s decision to withdraw from the AFC Champions League in the new season is also related to objective factors outside the football field. For example, due to the impact of the epidemic, my country is still implementing relatively strict epidemic prevention regulations and personnel entry and exit epidemic prevention regulations. Considering the case of some members staying abroad for a long time due to the epidemic after the Beijing Guoan team visited Uzbekistan to participate in the AFC Champions League last season, the four Chinese Super League clubs that have qualified for the AFC Champions League in the new season should also follow the issue of teaming up to participate in the AFC Champions League. to be cautious.
Watch carefully
Qualified for the AFC Champions League in the new season
Three other clubs have yet to respond
Since the group stage came to an end on May 1, the promoted team will also participate in the AFC knockout round in August this year, and the venue of the match will not be arranged in my country. Therefore, even if the Chinese Super League team goes all out to compete in the AFC Champions League and rank among them In the knockout rounds, you will also face the trouble of being dismantled and fragmented in the league competition schedule. For example, the Chinese Super League and FA Cup double champion Taishan team last season, even if they attach importance to the AFC Champions League, it is impossible to give up the defending competition for the two major domestic competitions. In fact, the truth of “you can’t have both fish and bear’s paw” is already very clear. This is also the reason why Taishan Club once planned to arrange a mixed team composed of some first-team players and young echelon players to go to the AFC Champions League. However, once the AFC Champions League is not played well, it will have more negative impact on the reputation of the club and Chinese professional football, which is obviously something that no one wants to see.
As of the afternoon of March 1, the other three Chinese Super League clubs that have qualified for the AFC Champions League in the new season have not responded publicly to similar questions. At present, among these three clubs, Guangzhou Football Club has previously terminated the contract with five active naturalized international players. Due to the club’s economic crisis, the rest of the main players are also facing departure from the team. With the current personnel reserve in Guangzhou, it is difficult to maintain competitiveness in the Chinese Super League, let alone the AFC Champions League. From this point of view, if they withdraw from the AFC Champions League, then the Guangzhou team can also relieve its own operational pressure to a certain extent. As for where the two relatively well-run clubs, Taishan and Haigang, will go about the AFC Champions League, they are also cautiously watching.
Text/Co-ordinator by our reporter Xiao Xun/Wang Haozhou
Photo courtesy / Xinhua News Agency