Revista Internacional de Ciencias del Deporte (Apr 2022)

Effect of tournament format change on team performance of Chinese Football Super League during COVID-19 pandemic. [Efecto del cambio de formato del torneo en el rendimiento del equipo de la Superliga de China de Fútbol durante la pandemia de COVID-19].

  • Jinying Jiang,
  • Huanmin Ge,
  • Yixiong Cui

DOI
https://doi.org/10.5232/ricyde2022.06801
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 18, no. 68
pp. 72 – 85

Abstract

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The outbreak of COVID-19 forced Chinese Football Association to adopt a special format for the 2020 Chinese Football Super League (CSL) after 5-month suspension. All 160 matches (decreased from 240) were divided into two stages (round robin; two-legged knockout) and played behind closed doors in two neutral cities (Suzhou and Dalian). The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of absence of spectators and format change on teams’ winning percentage and match performance. Technical-tactical and event data of all 400 matches during 2019 and 2020 seasons played by 18 teams were collected. A total of 26 performance indicators were extracted and standardized from the original data. The independent t-test results showed that there were statistically significant differences in 13 performance indicators between 2019 season home win and 2020 season win: shot, shot not on target, simple pass, pass, pass accurate, key pass, corner, corner accurate, dribble and take on (p<0.025, absolute ES: 0.28-0.74) for player performance as well as defensive fouls, defensive third foul and yellow cards for referee decision-making (p=0.001, absolute ES: 0.42-0.45). And there were statistically significant differences in 16 performance indicators between 2019 season home not win and 2020 season not win: shot, shot not on target, touch, simple pass, pass, pass accurate, key pass, corner, corner accurate, dribble, defensive duel, penalty shot and clearance for player performance (p<0.04, absolute ES: 0.21-0.93) as well as defensive third foul, defensive foul and yellow card for referee decision-making (p<0.015, absolute ES: 0.29-0.43). The findings implied that the change of match locations and absence of team supporters led to a decrease in teams’ match performance and an increase in referees’ decision. Although top-ranked teams seemed to be unaffected and the low-ranked teams showed an increase in winning percentage, the fairness of such tournament format needs to be reconsidered.

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