According to a report by journalist Xiao Nan from the Beijing Youth Daily, due to the upcoming World Cup Qualifiers in early September, the Chinese Football Association (CFA) may reschedule the 24th round of the Chinese Super League (CSL), originally planned for August 24/25, to be held in July to provide more pre-match training time for the national team.
The report states that the Chinese men’s national football team was initially scheduled to convene for a new training camp in mid-to-late July during the CSL break and participate in the East Asian Cup in South Korea. However, with the East Asian Cup now postponed and given the difficulty of securing high-quality friendly opponents outside of FIFA international match windows, it is likely that China will cancel its July training plans.
The match schedule indicates that China will play their first-round away game against a top-seeded team and their second-round home game against a third-seeded team in the 18-team qualifiers on September 5 and 10, respectively. Originally, the 24th round of the CSL was set to conclude on August 25, leaving only a 10-day gap before the qualifiers.
Under these circumstances, the CFA and the national team will have to consider whether it is necessary to advance the 24th round of the CSL to the July 14-25 break period to facilitate the team’s preparation.
