The Championship Commission of the ANFP it has only just begun to meet in the last days and there is so much to do, as Don Francisco would say. You have to schedule all Chilean soccer, devise the system, the bases and the schedule of the championships of the 2021 season.
To this work is added the definition of the two contests that were postponed in 2020 due to the pandemic: the Chile Cup and the Super Cup. Time is short and the intention is to liquidate everything as soon as possible, starting next March.
But the design of all this has just begun and for that reason, different actors have wanted to declare their intentions in the Quilín offices. And while in the Sifup they prepare a proposal, the owner of the television rights, TNT Sports, you already expressed your idea.
It was in a letter addressed to the president of the ANFP, Pablo Milad, in which the entire schedule for 2021 is specified. But one of its most interesting sections is linked to the system chosen for the National Championship.
TNT Sports is in favor of the dispute in a long tournament format, like the one it currently operates. But he also warns that “if this is not possible, the most advisable option is two short tournaments.”
This is the first time that this system is officially mentioned, which prevailed between 2002 and 2012 with definition in plaoyffs and then until 2017 in a one-wheel league system. An idea that always seduces part of the Council of Presidents of the ANFP.
Colo Colo was champion of the last short tournament played in Chilean soccer, Transition 2017, one afternoon in December against Huachipato. Photo: Agency One
The TNT Sports indication explains that the tight schedule and the fact that the championship projects its start only for the last week of March, allow that only one of these tournaments can be defined with playoffs.
In any case, the idea is beginning to make noise among the leaders and the ad hoc commission will keep this in mind when it begins to materialize its idea. Although the word of TNT Sports weighs, especially in the post-pandemic economic scenario.
