The Chinese Super League will begin its season on June 3, according to organisers, with games expected to be played in empty stadiums due to China’s strict Covid controls.

Matches between 18 teams will be held in Dalian on China’s east coast, as well as Haikou and Meizhou in the country’s south, according to a brief statement from the Chinese Football Association.

The statement did not offer details on whether fans will be allowed to watch the games.

But Chinese sports analysts expect the matches to be played in a “closed loop” like the one used for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, where small cherry-picked crowds were invited after taking several rounds of Covid tests.

Several teams including last season’s runners-up Shanghai Port and rivals Shanghai Shenhua have already arrived in Dalian and are undergoing mandatory three-week hotel quarantine periods to enter the league bubble, Chinese media reported.

Shandong Taishan are the defending champions and will be among the favourites to claim this year’s title alongside Shanghai Port.

Professional football in China has been hampered by the country’s zero-Covid strategy that has led to millions being locked down in cities including business hub Shanghai.

China announced last week that it will not host the Asian Cup next year, despite spending billions of dollars to build eight new stadiums and renovate two others.

The national team failed to qualify for this year’s World Cup for the second time in a row, and there has been an exodus of top foreign players and coaches from the country in recent seasons.