Super smooth return for CSL

The postponed Chinese Super League season kicked off smoothly on Saturday night despite the resurgence of COVID-19 cases in host city Dalian.

As planned even before the latest outbreak, no spectators were allowed at matches, with players and all on-site personnel subject to strict epidemic control measures at their locked-down bases.

On the pitch, Wei Shihao scored the opening goals of the campaign as his double helped defending champion Guangzhou Evergrande to a 2-0 victory over Shanghai Shenhua in Dalian.

"We hope that the fans can come back (to the stadium) soon. But there is no way (now)," Wei said in a post-match TV interview.

"It's still a bit difficult for everyone to get used to playing in empty venues."

Later in the evening, Wuhan Zall was a 2-0 victor over Qingdao Huanghai in the league's other hub city, Suzhou, Jiangsu province.

This year's CSL opening ceremony dispensed with its usual upbeat feel in favor of a more somber tone, with the players observing a minute's silence in honor of those who have lost their lives in the pandemic and to pay tribute to the heroic professionals fighting the virus.

Doubts had been raised over the kickoff in Dalian after the northeastern port city last week reported new locally transmitted coronavirus cases. On Saturday afternoon, authorities reported 12 new confirmed cases in the city over the previous 24 hours.

"The Chinese Football Association, together with Dalian municipal government, has made specific arrangements based on our original epidemic prevention and control plan," the CFA's deputy chairman, Gao Hongbo, told a pre-match media conference on Saturday in Dalian.

"All epidemic prevention measures have been implemented and put in place."

The season had originally been scheduled to start on Feb 22 until the COVID-19 pandemic forced its postponement.

In a revamped format, 16 teams have been split into two groups to play a tournament-style competition behind closed doors from July 25 to Sept 28 in the two cities. Dalian's eight teams arrived there on July 19 and 20.

"As of July 24, all the players and coaches had completed the second nucleic acid tests after arriving in Dalian, and the results were all negative," said Gao.

Gao added that, based on the recommendations of medical experts, the CFA has set up nine working groups, including epidemic prevention and security, for the operation of games in Dalian. Those groups are working in conjunction with relevant local departments as part of a league organizing committee. Miao Zhiwen, deputy director of Dalian Municipal Bureau of Sports, said the organizing committee has devised detailed epidemic control and emergency response plans.

Miao stressed that from the moment players, competition officials and referees landed at the airport in Dalian they were immediately sealed off from the outside world in a high-protection "blue zone". This will remain the case until they leave the city.

"During the tournament, 'point-to-point' transport is provided for teams to move between match venues, training grounds and hotels. The team members will have a nucleic acid test once a week at a fixed time," said Miao.

The new outbreak has prompted the organizing committee to impose even tighter epidemic control measures, with those staying in the blue zone now required to wear face masks in public.

According to Xinhua, all players and staff will be confined to their hotel when not training or playing, and the CSL has warned teams that anyone who violates the rules could be removed from the league.

Qi Jun, head of the CSL epidemic prevention working group, told a news briefing in Dalian on Thursday that the original guidelines took into account the possibility of an outbreak at a host city.

"The guidelines encompassed many scenarios, taking into consideration that a host city might report new confirmed cases," he said. "Therefore, we only needed to do more detailed checking work in accordance with the original version."

Food at the team's Dalian base has been tested and traced, with organizers saying that none of the materials can be connected back to the market at the center of the latest COVID-19 cases.

Xinhua and Deng Hanzhu contributed to this story.