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New setback to hopes of early return of Chinese Super League

4 years ago
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The Chinese Super League season was originally due to begin its season on 22 February 2020.

However, with the outbreak of the Coronavirus, an announcement was made in January that the league season was postponed until some point in the future when health concerns had receded.

After a dramatic reduction in the number of reported cases of Coronavirus in China by the middle of March, it was reported that the Chinese Super League could potentially kick off before the end of April.

A host of Chinese Super League teams had been spending pre-season overseas and then when the Coronavirus issue became serious, others joined them in doing the same. Rafa Benitez and Dalian Yifang were amongst those spending an extended time in Europe, in their case Spain, due to the health issues in China.

However, by the middle of last month (March), the Chinese Super League squads were returning home, a mixture of it becoming less safe in Europe and fears easing in China.

Players, staff and officials of each club had to be immediately quarantined for 14 days on arrival back in China, along with anybody else coming into the country from overseas. So a period of self isolation awaited the squads before they could step up training for when matches resume. A lot of people watching on from the Premier League and other European countries, as a resumption of football in the Chinese Super League would give a lot of encouragement to the European leagues as a guide for how long before they could potentially return.

However, hopes of a return anytime soon have been dashed.

The Chinese government have now ruled out an early resumption of major sporting events, including football and basketball, with the country fearing a second wave of Coronavirus cases from abroad.

The China’s authorities not giving any potential dates when this may change but making clear that certainly April will see no Chinese Super League matches.

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