Guo Ailun (R) of Liaoning Flying Leopards goes for a layup during the semifinal against Guangdong Southern Tigers at the 2021-2022 CBA season in Nanchang, east China's Jiangxi Province, April 14, 2022. (Xinhua/Peng Zhaozhi)
The first stage of the 2022-23 Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) regular season will take place in Hangzhou in October.
BEIJING, Sept. 10 (Xinhua) -- The first stage of the 2022-23 Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) regular season will take place in Hangzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province in October.
According to an announcement released by the league's governing body on Saturday, the first phase of the upcoming regular season will be played in a championship format with nine rounds of matches scheduled between October 10 and 30.
Pre-season warmup games will also be held in Hangzhou from October 6 to 8.
Twenty teams will participate in the new CBA season, which features a total of 42 rounds during the regular season.
The 20 teams will be divided into four groups with five teams each. Each team will play in-group teams three times and out-of-group teams twice. The top 12 finishers in the regular season will advance to the playoffs, which include rounds of 12, quarterfinals, semifinals and the finals.
After the first stage of the regular season, Chinese national team members head for the FIBA World Cup qualifiers before the CBA matches will resume for its second stage which is expected to adopt a home-and-away format. ■