Chen Yuyuan, chairman of the Chinese Football Association, revealed in an interview with the media on the 7th that the top 40 Asian matches in the World Cup qualifier are expected to be held from September this year to November, and the Chinese Super League that has not been played for a long time will face adjustment.
Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, May 7 (Reporter Wei Hua Gongbing) Chen Yuyuan, chairman of the Chinese Football Association, revealed in an interview with the media on the 7th that, the top 40 matches in the World Cup qualifier in Asia are expected to be held from September this year to November. The Chinese Super League, which has not been played for a long time, will face adjustment, the following is the interview record :
the recent work focus of the Chinese Football Association
Chen Yuyuan: The Chinese Football Association has not stopped working since February 6. In the past three months, our work has focused on these aspects: first, the preparation of national teams at all levels; Second, we have compiled specific Implementation Opinions on the reform of Chinese football; Third, the reform of the Football Association itself, including the adjustment of the organization, etc.; The fourth is the research on the operation scheme of the league, etc.
The Top 40 is expected to be held from September this year to November
Chen Yuyuan: We have fully communicated with Fifa and Fifa. It should be said that the top 40 will basically be completed from September to November, the men’s national team also prepared according to this timetable. We still have four rivals, Maldives, Guam, Philippines and Syria. At present, the overall epidemic prevention and control situation in China is good, but foreign countries are still relatively severe and there is uncertainty in the future. We will continue to closely contact and communicate with FIFA and various football associations.
In the future, we will have three home games and one away game, among which we will face the prevention and control requirements of Guam in the away game. Although the qualifier time is basically determined, prevention and control is still the focus, we will discuss the plan with FIFA, and I believe the competition will be completed at this stage.
The promotion of the Chinese women’s football team to the Olympic Games is a major task of the Chinese Football Association in the near future. The Olympic qualifier with the South Korean team may be postponed until next year. The current training is running for this goal. When the women’s football league is over, we will also focus on training, and we will try our best to advance to the Olympic Games.
The Chinese Super League is facing adjustment
Chen Yuyuan: throughout the Chinese Super League, we are also communicating with the club to continuously optimize the plan. Once the epidemic prevention and control requirements are met, the league will be launched as soon as possible. Compared with previous league matches, we have made three plans.
The first is the complete plan, and the second is the plan from June to December according to the time node. If the plan continues to be postponed, there will be a third plan. There are two basic points, one is to start as soon as possible according to the prevention and control requirements, and the other is that the competition has been adjusted compared with the past to ensure the quality of the league. The start stage of the league needs to be empty, and then gradually increase the number of fans.
If the competition starts in late June and ends in December, in this half year, one month will be set aside for the national team to prepare for the battle and one month for the Asian championship, in fact, it is only 4 months for professional league matches. It is impossible to finish 30 rounds in 4 months. In order to complete the league, it may be divided into groups A and B, and cross matches and elimination matches will be held in stages.
The reserve team of the Chinese Super League plays the second-class league, which is basically decided!
Chen Yuyuan: during this period, we focused on the study of the Super League reserve team playing the B league. Previously, the outside world generally reflected that the reserve team’s league performance was not good, so we proposed that the Super League reserve team play the B league, this is helpful to improve the appreciation of the second-class league and the technical and tactical ability of the reserve team. We have listened to the opinions of most clubs, and most of them are willing to participate in the second-class league, which is basically determined.
The national youth team will participate in the preparations for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. The team also faces the problem of low quality of the competition. We let the national youth team play the second-class league, which is helpful for the growth of the National Youth. These teams will have points in principle when they participate in the second division, but will not participate in the promotion.
The overall epidemic prevention situation in the league is good
Chen Yuyuan: This year’s epidemic prevention and control, there is no case of domestic players infected with the new coronavirus, which makes people feel gratified. A team of Zhongjia and Shandong Luneng have input cases, but the players have recovered. Each team is training intensively, and the training situation is relatively normal.
Call on players to accept temporary salary reduction
Chen Yuyuan: our teams at all levels have different levels of operational difficulties. After I arrived at the Football Association, I have always stressed the need for healthy professional leagues, the health of the league is firstly the balance of finance. At present, almost no team in our professional league is profitable.
We are very concerned about the impact of this epidemic on investors. It is not realistic to ask the Football Association to help clubs in cash. We need to help these clubs in terms of policies and rules. In terms of policies, reduce the basic investment and some additional expenses of the club.
We will issue a proposal these two days, calling on players to accept temporary salary cuts according to the club’s wishes. The salary reduction date is from March 1st to the start of the league. The salary reduction range is 30% to 50%, which is specifically discussed by the club and the players, which is beneficial to both sides in the long run.
Foreign aid is the same. During this period of time, we communicated with FIFA, and they also agreed with our point of view. If domestic players are limited in salary while foreign aid is not limited in salary, it is unfair.
In the future, salary reduction is also necessary. We must have the courage of a strong man to break his wrist and rebuild the financial system.
Professional league will not stop
Chen Yuyuan: the establishment of professional league (that is, the “professional league council” in the full reform plan) should be completed last year, but the idea at that time was to establish an enterprise organization management Super League. Later, we carefully studied the spirit of Article 50 of the full reform plan, which made it clear that the professional alliance was a corporate entity and managed the Super League, middle A and Middle B in a unified way. Later, we made adjustments, which took time, need to communicate effectively with relevant departments and clubs. Our establishment has come to an end and the Constitution has been basically established. I believe that the professional alliance will be established in at most one or two months.
Some time ago, some media believed that the Chinese Football Association was unwilling to delegate power, which was wrong. The Chinese Football Association should let it go. Matters related to the market and schedule of professional league matches will be given to league management. The Football Association mainly provides services and supervision. Although the club is relieved, we hope that the league will run well, which will bring benefits to the league.