A fixture pile-up might be cheered by football fans cooping up at home due to COVID-19 fears, but it is the last thing players want after a long hiatus brought by the coronavirus disease COVID-19.  

With domestic season poised to start on July 25, Chinese Super League (CSL) clubs find themselves in the middle of such unwanted scenarios after a new sporting calendar was announced by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) on Thursday. 

According to the plan, the AFC Champions League, which was put on hold in early March due to the pandemic, will return first in West Asia on September 14 and in East Asia on October 16 at centralized venues still to be named. 

The group stage matches will be played in full in a round robin format as originally planned, but all fixtures are set to be crammed into two weeks to make up for lost time. 

In Group F, Shanghai Shenhua will get the East Zone back underway as they take on the Australian side Perth Glory on October 16. The CSL powerhouse then play South Korea's Ulsan Hyundai three days later. Their back-to-back fixtures against FC Tokyo will be staged on October 22 and October 25. Shenhua's last two clashes will be against Glory in the return round on October 28 and against Hyundai on October 31. 

In Group E, Beijing Guoan, who opened their Champions League account with a 1-0 win over Chiangrai United in Thailand back in February, will attempt to continue their fine form when they encounter FC Seoul on October 19. The capital giants then clash with Melbourne Victory on October 22 before playing them a second time three days later. They will be back in action against Seoul on October 28, before signing off against United on October 31. 

In Group H, Shanghai SIPG will commence their AFC Champions League season on October 17 when they renew acquaintance with Sydney FC. They then clash with seven-time K-League champions Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors on October 20 and take on Japan's Yokohama F. Marinos three days later. The Chinese behemoth will host Yokohama again on October 26 and play against Sydney on October 29. Their final group stage showdown will be against Jeonbuk on November 1.

Meanwhile in Group G, the campaign for CSL champions Guangzhou Evergrande will start on October 17 when they meet Malaysian side Johor Darul Tazim (JDT). They then take on Suwon Samsung Bluewings of South Korea on October 20 and play against Vissel Kobe on October 23. On October 29, Evergrande will encounter Suwon again before their last group match against JDT on November 1. 

The knockout phase, which see matches reduced to one leg rather than the usual two-legged format, will start immediately after the group stage. The winners of the two zones will meet in a one-off final on December 5. 

UEFA Champions League August restart

Elsewhere, European football's governing body UEFA confirmed on Thursday that the remaining last-16 games of the UEFA Champions League, which were postponed in March due to coronavirus, will not be played on neutral grounds when they go ahead in August.

It means, Manchester City could play the second leg of their tie against Real Madrid at the Etihad Stadium, while Italian champions Juventus will host Lyon in Turin. Chelsea will travel to Germany taking on Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich.  

UEFA said the decision on the fixture arrangements was "consistent with the principle of sporting fairness" and took into account the fact that all four home teams are currently playing domestic matches in their own stadiums. 

"UEFA will continue to monitor the situation and reserves the right to reassign any such matches to the venues of the final tournament of the relevant competition should new events occur that would make it impossible to play one or more matches at the original venues," it added.

The final stages of the Champions League, from the quarter-finals onward, will be played as a mini-tournament in Portugal and the Europa League in Germany. All those matches will be reduced to one leg.