Chinese Super League Information

The Chinese Super League is an elite professional football competition in China. It is contested by 18 teams who play each other two times. The season starts in February or March and ends in November or December.

Teams get three points for a win and one point for a draw. The team with the most points after 34 rounds wins the title and qualification to the AFC Champions League. The second and third teams secure a spot in the AFC Champions League playoff. The bottom two teams in the table get relegated to China League One.

The Chinese Super League trophy is the Fire-god trophy, which is pure gold with a nephrite plinth base. The clubs only retain the original for a year after winning the trophy and get a replica later. The rules indicate that five foreigners can be in the squad and four can be on the field during a match.

Chinese Super League History

The first season of the National Football League took place in 1951. It changed formats several times but only got semi-professional status in 1987. The first professional league in China, the Chinese Jia-A League, was formed in 1994. After many problems with investors, there was a need for a reform of the league system.

In 2004, the Chinese FA launched the Super League. It increased the requirements that clubs needed to fulfill to play in this competition. The first season was contested by 12 teams, but the number increased to 14 in 2005 and 16 in 2008. In the current 2022 season, the Chinese Super League is contested by 18 teams.

Chinese Super League Clubs

Four clubs have been in the league since its formation in 2004. Guangzhou won eight titles in 11 seasons in the top tier of Chinese football. There are six other winners, and they won eight championships combined.

Here are some other impressive statistics about clubs:

• Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao hold the record for the highest average attendance in a single season. They had approximately 44,883 spectators per game in the 2016 Chinese Super League.
• The record attendance in an individual game took place in 2012. Jiangsu Sainty and Guangzhou Evergrande drew 1-1 in front of 65,769 spectators in the Nanjing Olympic Stadium.
• Shanghai Shenhua ended as runners-up on three occasions but never won the CSL trophy.

Chinese Super League Players

Many world-famous footballers have played in the Chinese Super League. Those include Hulk, Yannick Carrasco, Oscar, Paulinho, and Cédric Bakambu.

Here are some great statistics about Chinese Super League players:

• Ricardo Goulart was the only player to receive two Player of the Year awards in the Chinese Super League. He won this honor in 2015 and 2016.
• Eran Zahavi scored the most goals in a single season. He netted the ball 29 times in the 2019 CSL.
• Wu Lei is the top Chinese goal scorer in the league. He scored 27 goals in the 2018 season and more than 100 in total.
• Yan Junling won the Goalkeeper of the Year award three times from 2017 to 2019.