The Chinese Super League football championship is expected to start, while the teams have returned to training. Although questions remain as to when exactly the Chinese Super League football season will start, which was postponed due to the coronavirus, writes the Reuters agency, Koha.net reports.
Chinese Super League clubs began to return to training on Monday, two months after the league was originally scheduled to start on February 22, but still weeks before the start of the new season.
While mid-April has been mentioned as the starting date for the Chinese Super League, positive tests have returned at the weekend, when former Manchester United midfielder Marouane Fellaini tested positive for the coronavirus and was forced into self-isolation.
Football has stopped around the world due to the pandemic, with Japan postponing the restart of elite football until May 9.
But regardless of the date, the players and coaching staff are back training in China after spending most of this year abroad.
"We have been practicing at a modest level, mainly focusing on strength and conditioning," Shanghai SIPG defender Yu Hai told Shanghai TV after the club's first training session. "It's the first day we've returned to training and the intensity will gradually increase, that's for sure. We are professional players, we have to overcome the obstacles that stand before us. I believe that with the commitment of everyone in the club, we will go through this difficult period together".
All 16 clubs in the Chinese Super League have returned to China while the representative team, which has been training in the United Arab Emirates in preparation for the now-postponed 2022 World Cup qualifiers, have been based on the southern island of Hainan over the weekend.
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At Shanghai SIPG's training session, players were seen on television keeping their distance from each other at the club's training complex, both on the pitch and during exercises in the gym.
Head coach Vitor Pereira and his assistants did not join the session as they remain in isolation after returning to China, a similar story for foreign coaches and players who have returned to China from other countries.
Many have remained outside China and as a result the chances of the season starting in mid-April have dimmed.
"Although we haven't had a spring training camp this year, we really need real physical exercise to get ready for the season," said Shanghai SIPG captain Wang Shenchao. "I believe that with some higher intensity training we will be ready for the season in the Chinese Super League, the Asian Champions League and the Chinese Cup. Once the season starts, it will be very challenging, as we will be playing back-to-back games. However, it is the same in all clubs. Only teams that are well prepared mentally and physically can withstand this intensity."
