The Chinese Football Super League (), commonly known as the Chinese Super League or the CSL (), also known as the
China Resources Beverage
China Resources Beverage (Holdings) Ltd. or CR Beverage () is the division of China Resources that sells soft drinks. Its head office is in the north area of the Hi-tech Park (新科技园 ''Xīn Kējì Yuán'') in Nanshan District, Shenzhen. Chinese Football Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional
association football
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...
league in
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
and the highest level of the
Chinese football league system. Governed by the
Chinese Football Association
The Chinese Football Association (), abbreviated as CFA (), is the governing body for association football, beach soccer and futsal in the People's Republic of China (Mainland China). The CFA organizes the men's and women's national teams an ...
and operated by the
Chinese Professional Football League
The Chinese Professional Football League (), abbreviated as CFL (), is an independent federation aimed at operating all levels of China's professional association football, football Sports league, leagues, overseeing the Chinese Super League (CS ...
(CFL), the league was established in 2004 by the rebranding of the former top division,
Chinese Jia-A League
The National Football Jia A League (simplified Chinese: 全国足球甲A联赛), commonly known as Jia-A, was the highest tier of professional football in the People's Republic of China, during 1994 through 2003, operating under the auspices of th ...
.
Initially contested by 12 teams in its inaugural year, the league has since expanded, with 16 teams competing in the
2025 season. A total of 40 teams have competed in the CSL since its inception, with 9 of them winning the title:
Guangzhou
Guangzhou, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Canton or Kwangchow, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Guangdong Provinces of China, province in South China, southern China. Located on the Pearl River about nor ...
(eight),
Shandong Taishan (four),
Shanghai Port (three),
Shenzhen
Shenzhen is a prefecture-level city in the province of Guangdong, China. A Special economic zones of China, special economic zone, it is located on the east bank of the Pearl River (China), Pearl River estuary on the central coast of Guangdong ...
,
Dalian Shide,
Changchun Yatai,
Beijing Guoan
Beijing Guoan Football Club (), known in AFC competitions as Beijing FC, is a Chinese professional football club based in Beijing, that competes in . Beijing Guoan plays its home matches at the Workers' Stadium, located within Chaoyang Distr ...
,
Jiangsu
Jiangsu is a coastal Provinces of the People's Republic of China, province in East China. It is one of the leading provinces in finance, education, technology, and tourism, with its capital in Nanjing. Jiangsu is the List of Chinese administra ...
, and
Wuhan Three Towns (one title each). The current Super League champions are Shanghai Port, who won the
2024 edition.
The Chinese Super League is one of the most popular professional sports leagues in China, with an average attendance of 24,107 for league matches in the 2018 season. This was the twelfth-highest of any domestic professional sports league in the world and the sixth-highest of any professional association football league in the world, behind the
Bundesliga
The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...
, the
Premier League
The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...
,
La Liga
The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...
,
Serie A
The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...
and
Liga MX
Liga MX, also known as Liga BBVA MX for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Mexico and the highest level of the Mexican football league system. Formerly known as Liga Mayor (1943–1949) and also as Primera Divis ...
.
Overview
Competition
Unlike many top European leagues like
Bundesliga
The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...
,
Premier League
The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...
,
La Liga
The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...
, and
Serie A
The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...
, the Chinese Super League starts in February or March and ends in November or December. In each season, each club plays each of the other clubs twice, once at home and another away.
With 16 clubs currently in the Chinese Super League in Season 2023, each club plays 30 matches. There are 8 games every round, and a total of 240 games in the season.
The two lowest-placed teams by the end of the season are relegated to the
China League One
The Chinese Football League 1 (), also known as China League One or Chinese Jia League (), is the second level of professional football in China, under the Chinese Super League. The league is under the auspices of the Chinese Football Association ...
and the top two teams from the League One are promoted, taking their places.
The League position is determined by the highest number of points accumulated during the season. If two or more teams are level on points, tiebreakers are, in the following order
# Highest number of points accumulated in matches between the teams concerned;
# Highest goal difference in matches between the teams concerned;
# Highest number of goals scored in matches between the teams concerned;
# Highest points accumulated by the reserve teams in the reserve league
# Highest points accumulated by the U19 teams in the U19 league
# Highest goal difference;
# Highest number of goals scored;
# Fair-Play points (Clubs deduct 1 point for a yellow card, and 3 points for a red card);
# Draw by lots.
Chinese Super League clubs in international competition
When the Asian Football Confederation started the AFC Champions League in the 2002–03 season, China was given 2 slots in the competition. Qualification for the AFC Champions League changed in 2009 as AFC distributed 4 slots to China. The top three of the league, as well as the winner of the
Chinese FA Cup
The Chinese FA Cup (, abbreviated as CFA Cup) is the national knockout cup competition in China organized by the Chinese Football Association. The current holders are Shanghai Port, having beaten Shandong Taishan in 2024 for their first title.
H ...
, qualify for the
AFC Champions League
The AFC Champions League Elite (abbreviated as the ACL Elite) is an annual continental club association football, football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation, and contested by Asia's List of top-division football clubs i ...
of the next year. If the FA Cup finalists finish the league in 3rd or higher, the 4th place team in the league will take the
Champions League spot.
Between the 2002–03 and the 2017 season, Chinese clubs won the AFC Champions League two times, behind Korean K-League with five wins, and Japanese J-League with three wins.
Development
On 17 November 2017, the Vice-president of the CFA, Li Yuyi, disclosed the expansion plan of the top four level leagues of China. The Chinese Super League is planning to expand to 18 clubs, followed by China League One with 20 clubs, China League Two with 32 clubs and the Chinese Football Association Member Association Champions League with 48 clubs.
History
Origins
Though it could be argued that
football was invented by the Chinese, organised league play of association
football in China only began in 1951 with the establishment of the Chinese National Football Conference as a round-robin tournament, with 8 teams participating. Development was rapid: in 1954, the competition was renamed the National Football League, in 1956, it was divided into two Divisions, and promotion and relegation between the two tiers started in 1957. In the 1980s, the Chinese Football Association allowed enterprise entities to sponsor and invest in football teams, and as a result, the league entered a semi-pro period in 1987. Sponsored by Goldlion Group, the league played its first-ever home and away season: participating were the top 7 clubs of the 1986 Division 1, together with Liaoning, who were 1985 season champions, but did not compete in 1986 league season due to participating in the Asian Club Championship. The tournament was renamed the National Football League Division 1 Group A, or
Chinese Jia-A League
The National Football Jia A League (simplified Chinese: 全国足球甲A联赛), commonly known as Jia-A, was the highest tier of professional football in the People's Republic of China, during 1994 through 2003, operating under the auspices of th ...
for short, and the other 8 clubs of Division 1 and the top 4 clubs from Division 2 participated in the
Chinese Jia-B League. The two groups merged in the 1988 season, but divided again in 1989.
In the early 1990s, the CFA began to allow enterprises to purchase football clubs and manage them, whether they were state-owned enterprises or private-owned companies, and in 1992, it was announced that, as part of the sports system reform project, the Chinese Jia-A League would become the country's first professional football league, starting with the 1994 season. All Jia-A clubs were ordered to set up professionally before 1994, and all Jia-B clubs were given an extra year to realise professional structural reform. The Jia-A league achieved success in its early years, but in the late ’90s, its management practices received heavy criticism; special attention was paid to the lack of continuity in key policies, as well as a lack of sustainable development in certain member clubs. At the same time, the league was affected by gambling, match-fixing and corruption. As a result, the chaotic state of Jia-A had become a "troubled investment environment," with sponsors and club owners both bowing out. In recognition of the aforementioned, as well as a multitude of other factors, the Chinese Football Association decided to reform the League system, which ultimately led to the creation of the Chinese Super League.
On January 13, 2001, Yan Shiduo, vice-president of the Chinese Football Association, discussed setting up a new professional league system, and in 2002, the CFA announced the establishment of the Chinese Super League, with the
first season beginning in 2004. Intending to introduce truly commercial methods and let the professional football market in China operate more freely, the CSL seeks to draw on the experience of professional Leagues in Europe to redesign the league structure and strengthen professionalism.
Foundation
Compared to the Jia-A, the CSL is a lot more demanding on teams. The CFA and CSL committee imposed a range of minimum criteria to ensure professional management and administration, financial probity, and a youth development program at every club. The CSL published first edition of CSL club criteria in 2002 and revised it several times, club license system was introduced since 2004. Besides the regular professional league, the CSL also has a reserve league, and Youth super league plays in U-19,U-17,U-15,U-14 and U-13 levels.
The CSL and China League One's goals are to promote high-quality and high-level competition, introduce advanced managerial concepts to the market, enforce the delivery of minimum standards of professionalism, encourage an influx of higher-quality foreign coaches and players, and gradually establish the European system for player registrations and transfers.
Summary
The first CSL season began in 2004, with 12 teams in the league. The
inaugural season was plagued with controversy, which continued from the former league, Jia-A, and where, since 1999, scandals such as match-fixing and gambling had been uncovered. This resulted in the loss of interest in the domestic game, low attendances and great financial losses.
The original plan was to have one relegated team and two promoted teams for the
2004 season and
2005 season, thus increasing the number of teams in 2006 to 14. But the CFA's decisions caused the relegations to be cancelled for these 2 years.
For the
2005 season, the league expanded to 14 teams after
Wuhan Huanghelou and
Zhuhai Zobon won promotion from China League One. The
Zhuhai
Zhuhai; Yale romanization of Cantonese, Yale: ''Jyūhói''; Chinese postal romanization, also known as Chuhai is a prefecture-level city located on the west bank of the Pearl River (China), Pearl River estuary on the central coast of southern ...
team, formerly named Zhuhai Anping, had been bought by the Shanghai Zobon real estate company and relocated to Shanghai for the 2005 season, and subsequently renamed to Shanghai Zobon.
In 2006, the league was planned to expand to 16 teams with the newly promoted
Xiamen Blue Lions and
Changchun Yatai. However,
Sichuan First City withdrew before the start of the season, leaving only 15 teams when the season started on March 11.
Shanghai Zobon, after another change of ownership, was renamed
Shanghai United.
In 2007, the league was again planned to be expanded to 16 teams, but once again it found itself one team short. Shanghai United's owner,
Zhu Jun, bought a major share in local rival
Shanghai Shenhua
Shanghai Shenhua Football Club () is a Chinese professional football club based in Shanghai, that competes in . Shanghai Shenhua plays its home matches at the Shanghai Stadium, located within Xuhui District.
The owner of Shanghai Shenhua is ...
and merged the two teams. As a result, Shanghai Shenhua retained its name as it already had a strong fanbase in the city, while Shanghai United pulled out of the league.
In 2008, the season started with 16 clubs participating for the first time, however, Wuhan protested against punishments made by the CFA after a match against
Beijing Guoan
Beijing Guoan Football Club (), known in AFC competitions as Beijing FC, is a Chinese professional football club based in Beijing, that competes in . Beijing Guoan plays its home matches at the Workers' Stadium, located within Chaoyang Distr ...
, and announced its immediate withdrawal from the league, which left the season to finish with 15 clubs.
Since 2009, the league has run with 16 stable clubs participating each year. Two are relegated to China League One, and two are promoted from China League One each season.
In 2010, the CSL was beset by a scandal going right to the top of the CFA. The Chinese government took
nationwide action against football gambling, match-fixing and corruption, and former CFA vice presidents Xie Yalong, Nan Yong and Yang Yimin were arrested. On February 22, 2010, CFA relegated
Guangzhou Yiyao for match-fixing in 2006 China League One Season, as well as
Chengdu Blades for match-fixing in 2007 China League One season.
In 2011, the anti-corruption movement had visibly improved the image of the CSL, with increases to attendance. Clubs such as
Guangzhou Evergrande and
Shanghai Shenhua
Shanghai Shenhua Football Club () is a Chinese professional football club based in Shanghai, that competes in . Shanghai Shenhua plays its home matches at the Shanghai Stadium, located within Xuhui District.
The owner of Shanghai Shenhua is ...
began investing heavily in foreign stars. After former
Fluminense midfielder
Darío Conca transferred in 2011, some notable signings during the 2012 seasons included former
Chelsea forward
Didier Drogba
Didier Yves Drogba Tébily (; born 11 March 1978) is an Ivorian former professional association football, footballer who played as a striker (association football), striker. He is the Top international association football goal scorers by cou ...
and
Nicolas Anelka
Nicolas Sébastien Anelka (born 14 March 1979) is a French professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player who played as a Forward (association football), forward. As a player, he regularly featur ...
, former
Barcelona
Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...
midfielder
Seydou Keita and
Fábio Rochemback, former
Sevilla FC
Sevilla Fútbol Club () is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Seville, Andalusia, that competes in La Liga, the Spanish football league system, top flight of Spanish football. The club was formed on 25 January ...
forward
Frédéric Kanouté, former
Blackburn Rovers
Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...
forward
Yakubu and former
Borussia Dortmund
Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, often known simply as Borussia Dortmund () or by its initialism BVB (), or just Dortmund by International fans, is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is ...
forward
Lucas Barrios
Lucas Ramón Barrios Cáceres (; born 13 November 1984) is a Paraguayan former professional footballer who played as a forward. Barrios is known for his effectiveness in the target area. This earned him his nickname ''La Pantera'', which means ...
. Former
Japan national team coach
Takeshi Okada took up the reins as the new coach of
Hangzhou Greentown, former
Argentina national team coach
Sergio Batista replaced
Jean Tigana
Amadou Jean Tigana (born 23 June 1955) is a French former football player and manager. A central midfielder, he was renowned as one of the best midfielders in the world during the 1980s. He spent his entire playing career in France, and made 5 ...
as Shanghai Shenhua's head coach, and former
Italy national team and
Juventus
Juventus Football Club (; from , ), commonly known as Juventus or colloquially as Juve (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Turin, Piedmont, who compete in Serie A, the ...
manager
Marcello Lippi
Marcello Romeo Lippi (; born 12 April 1948) is an Italian former professional association football, football player and manager, who led the Italy national football team, Italy national team to victory in the 2006 FIFA World Cup.
He was appoin ...
replaced
Lee Jang-Soo as Guangzhou Evergrande's head coach.
In 2012, Guangzhou Evergrande became the first Chinese team to defend their CSL title, and to win consecutive titles. However, eight-time champions of Professional League, Dalian Shide, had seriously financial problems during the entire season, especially after the arrest of club owner Xu Ming. They had planned to merge with Dalian Aerbin, the other CSL club of the city, but the Chinese Football Association blocked the merger at the end, as Dalian Shide failed to cancel their registration as a CSL club before the merger. So Aerbin effectively purchased and swallowed up Shide, including the club's famed academy and training facilities. Dalian Shide was officially dissolved on 31 January 2013. The country's most successful club had ceased to exist.
In 2013,
David Beckham
Sir David Robert Joseph Beckham ( ; born 2 May 1975) is an English former professional footballer, the president and co-owner of Inter Miami CF and co-owner of Salford City. Primarily a right winger and known for his range of passing, cross ...
became first global ambassador for CSL. In February 2013, Shanghai Shenhua
was stripped of its
2003 Chinese Ji-A league title as part of a broad match-fixing crackdown. In total, 12 clubs were handed punishments, while 33 people, including former CFA vice-president Xie Yalong and Nan Yong, received life bans. Also in 2013, Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao won the
Asian Champions League
The AFC Champions League Elite (abbreviated as the ACL Elite) is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation, and contested by Asia's top-division football clubs. It is the most prestigious cl ...
title, the first time a Chinese Super League team has won that award.
In 2014, Guangzhou Evergrande became the first Chinese club to win four consecutive professional league titles.
In 2015, ex-Tottenham midfielder
Paulinho moved to Guangzhou Evergrande at the age of 27, Guangzhou Evergrande become AFC champions League champions for second time.
In 2016, the Chinese super league became a rising power in the global transfer market. Brazil international
Ramires, Colombia international
Jackson Martinez and
Fredy Guarin were among the notable signings, while
Pavel Nedvěd
Pavel Nedvěd (; born 30 August 1972) is a Czech former professional Association football, footballer who played as a midfielder. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest Czech players of all time and he won numerous trophies with Italian cl ...
was appointed as second global ambassador for CSL.
2017 saw the Chinese Super League (CSL) catapulted to global attention. Players such as
Oscar
Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to:
People and fictional and mythical characters
* Oscar (given name), including lists of people and fictional characters named Oscar, Óscar or Oskar
* Oscar (footballer, born 1954), Brazilian footballer ...
,
Carlos Tevez
Carlos Alberto Tevez (; né Martínez; born 5 February 1984) is an Argentine professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player. A dynamic forward (association football), forward in his prime, Tevez ...
,
Ricardo Carvalho
Ricardo Alberto Silveira de Carvalho (; born 18 May 1978) is a Portuguese professional association football, football coach and former player who is currently assistant head coach of the Portugal national football team, Portugal national team ...
,
Alexandre Pato
Alexandre Rodrigues da Silva (; born 2 September 1989), commonly known as Alexandre Pato () or just Pato, is a Brazilian former professional association football, footballer who played as a Striker (association football), striker.
Pato began ...
and
Mikel John Obi all moved east during the year. Guangzhou Evergrande won their 7th consecutive league title.
2018, in the 28th round of the
2018 Chinese Super League, the two title favourites
Shanghai SIPG and
Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao clashed head-to-head, with Shanghai SIPG coming away with 5 - 4 hard win over Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao to open up the points gap with Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao. At last, Shanghai SIPG won the 2018 Chinese Super League Champion, thus breaking Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao's 7-year monopoly of the Chinese Super League.
At the 2019 CSL Mobilization Meeting, the CFA Referees Committee officially announced that a professional referee system will be introduced in the CSL in 2019, with two foreign referees including
Mark Clattenburg
Mark Clattenburg (born 13 March 1975) is an English former professional Association football, football Referee (association football), referee.
Clattenburg is a former member of the Premier League and the Durham County Football Association an ...
,
Milorad Mažić, and three local referees to be officially hired as the first professional referees in the history of Chinese football. The two foreign professional referees will be mainly responsible for enforcing the Chinese Super League, but will also provide coaching and training for local referees.
Affected by
COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic.
The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...
,the
2020 Chinese Super League has been postponed to July 25. The 16 teams will be divided into two groups to play in
Suzhou
Suzhou is a major prefecture-level city in southern Jiangsu province, China. As part of the Yangtze Delta megalopolis, it is a major economic center and focal point of trade and commerce.
Founded in 514 BC, Suzhou rapidly grew in size by the ...
and
Dalian
Dalian ( ) is a major sub-provincial port city in Liaoning province, People's Republic of China, and is Liaoning's second largest city (after the provincial capital Shenyang) and the third-most populous city of Northeast China (after Shenyang ...
. This year's league was temporarily changed to a "Group stage + Knockout" format and adopted a tournament system.
Planning cooperation structure
The preparatory committee of the
Chinese Professional Football League
The Chinese Professional Football League (), abbreviated as CFL (), is an independent federation aimed at operating all levels of China's professional association football, football Sports league, leagues, overseeing the Chinese Super League (CS ...
was established on May 27, 2016, with members from 5 CSL clubs, 3 CL1 clubs and 2 CL2 clubs, includes two CFA representatives. The blueprint is to have all of the three professional level leagues of China, the Chinese Super League, China Football League one and China Football League two separated from the League structure of the CFA. The PFL will be a private company wholly owned by its Member Clubs who make up the League at any one time. Each club is a shareholder, with one vote each on issues such as rule changes and contracts. The newly formed PFL would have commercial independence from The CFA, giving the PFL licence to negotiate its own broadcast and sponsorship agreements.
The CFA will no longer hold any shares of the League, but as the national governing body for football in China, the CFA is responsible for sanctioning competition Rule Books, and regulating on-field matters. It also organises The CFA Cup competition, in which PFL Member Clubs compete and the lower division leagues ranked after CL2, under a specific agreement between CFA and PFL. The CFA also has the ability to exercise a vote on certain specific issues, but has no role in the day-to-day running of the CSL, CL1 and CL2.
On January 3, 2017, the CFA announced that Chinese Professional Football League, formed as a limited company, will be established in March 2017, the CSL and CL1 clubs will be found members of the PFL starts from 2017, with CL2 planning to join the system by 2019. The PFL preparatory committee will discuss and establish the regulations and the structures of the PFL, holding the elections of the PFL president in January and February 2017. However, after a series of meetings includes CFA officers and club owners, the plan had been put on hold.
Clubs
Champions
Performances in Chinese Super League
Current clubs
Former clubs
Rivalries
There are several key rivalries and
local derbies that have formed in the Chinese Super League, including:
''
Jing–Hu rivalry''
* 2004–present:
Beijing Guoan
Beijing Guoan Football Club (), known in AFC competitions as Beijing FC, is a Chinese professional football club based in Beijing, that competes in . Beijing Guoan plays its home matches at the Workers' Stadium, located within Chaoyang Distr ...
v
Shanghai Shenhua
Shanghai Shenhua Football Club () is a Chinese professional football club based in Shanghai, that competes in . Shanghai Shenhua plays its home matches at the Shanghai Stadium, located within Xuhui District.
The owner of Shanghai Shenhua is ...
''
Shanghai derby''
* Matches between
Inter Shanghai,
Shanghai Shenhua
Shanghai Shenhua Football Club () is a Chinese professional football club based in Shanghai, that competes in . Shanghai Shenhua plays its home matches at the Shanghai Stadium, located within Xuhui District.
The owner of Shanghai Shenhua is ...
,
Shanghai United,
Shanghai Shenxin, and
Shanghai Port
''
Guangzhou derby''
* 2012–2022:
Guangzhou
Guangzhou, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Canton or Kwangchow, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Guangdong Provinces of China, province in South China, southern China. Located on the Pearl River about nor ...
v
Guangzhou City
''
Dalian derby''
* 2012:
Dalian Shide v
Dalian Aerbin
Dalian Professional Football Club (), known as Dalian Pro, was a Chinese professional Association football, football club based in Dalian, Liaoning, which mostly competed in the Chinese Super League. Dalian Pro played its home matches at various ...
''
Tianjin derby''
* 2017–2019:
Tianjin Teda v
Tianjin Tianhai
''
Beijing derby''
* 2018–2019:
Beijing Guoan
Beijing Guoan Football Club (), known in AFC competitions as Beijing FC, is a Chinese professional football club based in Beijing, that competes in . Beijing Guoan plays its home matches at the Workers' Stadium, located within Chaoyang Distr ...
v
Beijing Renhe
''Wuhan derby''
* 2022:
Wuhan Three Towns v
Wuhan Yangtze River
''Qingdao derby''
* 2024–present:
Qingdao Hainiu v
Qingdao West Coast
Players
Player salaries and transfers
Professional footballers in China receive relatively high salaries when compared to other Chinese sports leagues and football leagues in other countries. The average salary for CSL players is $1,016,579 in 2017, it is ranked at eleventh place among all of the professional sports leagues and the sixth-highest of any professional association football league in the world.
CSL has two transfer windows—the primary pre-season transfer window lasts two months from January to February, and the secondary mid season transfer window runs one month from mid June to mid July. As of the 2018 season, the CSL introduced new rules mandating that each club must register a maximum 31-man squad, with 27 Chinese Players, including a player from Hong Kong, Macau and Chinese Taipei, and 4 foreign players. In the transfer window clubs could sign 5 Chinese players at any age, plus 3 under 21 Chinese players; clubs could register 4 foreign players in the winter transfer, and replace two of them in the summer transfer.
The record transfer fee for a CSL player has risen rapidly since the investment boost started in 2015. The six most expensive transfers with players coming to CSL have exceeded €30 million, with
Chelsea selling
Oscar
Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to:
People and fictional and mythical characters
* Oscar (given name), including lists of people and fictional characters named Oscar, Óscar or Oskar
* Oscar (footballer, born 1954), Brazilian footballer ...
to
Shanghai SIPG in December 2016 for a fee of €60 million,
Zenit Saint Petersburg selling
Hulk
The Hulk is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in the debut issue of ''The Incredible Hulk (comic book), The Incredible Hulk ...
to Shanghai SIPG for €55.8 million in July 2016,
Shakhtar Donetsk selling
Alex Teixeira
Alex Teixeira Santos (; born 6 January 1990) is a Brazilian professional association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), forward for Campeonato Brasileiro Série A club CR Vasco da Gama, Vasco da Gama.
Teixeira ...
to
Jiangsu Suning for €50 million in February 2016,
Atlético Madrid
Club Atlético de Madrid, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), commonly referred to as Atlético Madrid or simply Atlético, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid that plays in La Liga. The club play their home game ...
selling
Jackson Martínez to
Guangzhou Evergrande for €42 million in February 2016,
Villarreal
Villarreal (officially, in ) is a city and municipality in the province of Castellón which is part of the Valencian Community in the east of Spain.
The town is located at 42 m above sea level, 7 km to the south of the province's capital ( ...
selling
Cédric Bakambu
Cédric Bakambu (born 11 April 1991) is a professional footballer who plays as a forward or a winger for La Liga club Real Betis and the DR Congo national team.
Bakambu made his professional debut for Sochaux in 2010, and played 107 offi ...
to
Beijing Guoan
Beijing Guoan Football Club (), known in AFC competitions as Beijing FC, is a Chinese professional football club based in Beijing, that competes in . Beijing Guoan plays its home matches at the Workers' Stadium, located within Chaoyang Distr ...
for €40 million in February 2018,
Atlético Madrid
Club Atlético de Madrid, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), commonly referred to as Atlético Madrid or simply Atlético, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid that plays in La Liga. The club play their home game ...
selling
Yannick Carrasco to
Dalian Yifang for €30 million in February 2018. Guangzhou Evergrande's sale of
Paulinho to
Barcelona
Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...
for €40 million in 2017 broke the record for a CSL player transfer to other leagues. Transfer fees for domestic players also increased dramatically. Beijing Guoan sold Chinese International
Zhang Chengdong to
Hebei China Fortune for ¥15 million in January 2017, breaking the domestic transfer record for Chinese players.
The Chinese Football Association introduced a new transfer tax to restrict transfer spending. On June 20, 2017, CFA announced that any club that pays more than ¥45 million for a foreign player transfer or ¥20 million for a Chinese player transfer must pay the same amount to a CFA youth development fund.
In December 2020, the CFA imposed a
salary cap
In professional sports, a salary cap (or wage cap) is an agreement or rule that places a limit on the amount of money that a team can spend on players' salaries. It exists as a per-player limit or a total limit for the team's roster, or both. Seve ...
on the Super League. Starting with the 2021 season, total player wages are capped at ¥600 million, with a separate limit of €10 million for foreign players. Individual player salaries are also capped, at ¥5 million before tax for Chinese players and €3 million for foreign players.
Foreign player policy
In early years, numerous players from Eastern Europe, Africa and Latin America regions were signed as the foreign players in the Chinese league. Steadily, a lot of players transferred to China from major European and South American Leagues. The league has rules, at present, restricting the number of foreign players strictly to four per team. A team could use a maximum of three foreign players on the field each game. This is to promote native player improvement and to conform to rules regarding international club competitions in the AFC. Between 2009 and 2017, there was an additional slot for a player from
AFC countries. During the middle of the 2012 season, it was decided that teams that were competing in the
AFC Champions League
The AFC Champions League Elite (abbreviated as the ACL Elite) is an annual continental club association football, football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation, and contested by Asia's List of top-division football clubs i ...
were allowed to have two extra foreign players, which can bring the number of foreigners on a team's seven; however, the policy was removed in the 2013 season.
Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwanese players
Policy for Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwanese players has changed continuously. Players from
Hong Kong Football Association
The Football Association of Hong Kong, China Limited (HKFA; ) is the governing body of association football in Hong Kong, People's Republic of China. Its current chairman is Eric Fok.
History
The HKFA was established in 1914. It is one of the ...
were considered foreigners at the beginning of 2009, but the league held back the change until the summer transfer window. After the 2010 season, players from
Macau Football Association and
Chinese Taipei Football Association
Chinese Taipei Football Association (CTFA) is the governing body for football in the Republic of China (commonly known as Taiwan). Its official name in Chinese is the Republic of China Football Association, but due to the political status of Tai ...
(except goalkeepers) were not considered foreigners in CSL matches, but will be regarded as foreigners in AFC competitions. In the 2015 season, players who had not played for the
Hong Kong national football team
The Hong Kong national football team (; recognised as Hong Kong, China by FIFA) represents Hong Kong in international association football, football and is controlled by the Football Association of Hong Kong, China, the governing body for foot ...
,
Macau national football team
The Macau national football team (; ) represents the Special administrative region of the People's Republic of China, Chinese special administrative region of Macau in international association football. The team is supervised by the Macau Foo ...
or the
Chinese Taipei national football team
The Chinese Taipei national football team () represents Taiwan (The Republic of China) in international football and is controlled by the Chinese Taipei Football Association. Despite never qualifying for the FIFA World Cup, Chinese Taipei, t ...
were no longer deemed native players. In the 2016 and 2017 season, players from the three associations whose contract was signed after 1 January 2016 were no longer deemed native players. From the 2018 season, a club could register one non-naturalized player from the three associations as a native player. According to the Chinese FA, a non-naturalized player refers to someone who was first registered as a professional footballer in the three football associations. Furthermore, Hong Kong or Macau players must be of Chinese descent of Hong Kong or Macau permanent resident, and Taiwanese players must be citizens of Taiwan.
Most goals and appearances
Head coaches
In early years Chinese and Serbian coaches achieved success in the Chinese Super League. Just like the Jia-A period, the majority of foreign coaches were from countries like Serbia, Croatia and South Korea. Nowadays most CSL clubs appoint coaches from Western Europe and South America. Guangzhou Evergrande were the first side to spend big to bring in European and South American coaches.
World Cup
A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...
winning managers
Marcello Lippi
Marcello Romeo Lippi (; born 12 April 1948) is an Italian former professional association football, football player and manager, who led the Italy national football team, Italy national team to victory in the 2006 FIFA World Cup.
He was appoin ...
and
Luiz Felipe Scolari
Luiz Felipe Scolari (; born 9 November 1948), also known as Felipão ("Big Phil"), is a Brazilian football manager and former player who currently serves as the technical director of Grêmio.
Considered to be one of the greatest and most su ...
had successful experiences at Guangzhou Evergrande. Famous coaches who have coached in China include
Fabio Capello
Fabio Capello (; born 18 June 1946) is an Italian former professional association football, football manager (association football), manager and player.
As a player, Capello represented SPAL, AS Roma, Roma, AC Milan and Juventus FC, Juventus. H ...
,
Felix Magath,
Manuel Pellegrini
Manuel Luis Pellegrini Ripamonti (; ; born 16 September 1953) is a Chilean professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player who is the head coach of Real Betis. As a coach, he has managed clubs in S ...
,
Dan Petrescu,
André Villas-Boas
Luís André de Pina Cabral e Villas-Boas (; born 17 October 1977) is a Portuguese sports executive, and former professional Manager (association football), football manager, who is currently the List of FC Porto presidents, president of Port ...
,
Cuca,
Sven-Göran Eriksson
Sven-Göran Eriksson (; 5 February 1948 – 26 August 2024) was a Swedish association football, football player and Coach (sport), manager.
After a playing career as a right-back, Eriksson went on to experience major success in club management ...
,
Sergio Batista,
Radomir Antić.
Attendance
The Chinese Super League has the highest average attendance of any football league in Asia. However, stadiums have capacity restrictions.
Season averages
Attendance by clubs
This table lists average attendances of clubs yearly, but only for seasons when that club played in the top division. Clubs are listed with their current names.
Individual game highest attendance records
Awards
The official Chinese Super league annual awards are given to clubs, players, managers and referees based on their performance during the season.
Trophy
The Fire-god trophy is the official trophy award to CSL champions. The trophy was created by the
Sculpture Department of the Central Academy of Fine Arts and donated by the official partner of the Chinese Super League, Hengyuanxiang Group, in 2004. It consists of a pure gold trophy and a
nephrite
Nephrite is a variety of the calcium, magnesium, and iron-rich amphibole minerals tremolite or actinolite ( aggregates of which also make up one form of asbestos). The chemical formula for nephrite is Ca2( Mg, Fe)5 Si8 O22(O H)2. It is on ...
plinth base. The lower part of the trophy is the model of a Great Wall beacon tower; on the upper part, on top of the rising beacon, is a football wrapped by the earth, while the base has the engraved years and names of each Chinese Super League winner since 2004. The trophy weighs . The trophy and plinth are tall.
The trophy is not awarded to the winning club permanently. After the award ceremony they are awarded a replica, and they are allowed to retain the genuine trophy for one year.
Player of the Year
It is also named the "Most Valuable Player".
Golden Boot Award
This award is awarded to the top goalscorer of the league that year.
There is also an award that is awarded to the top Chinese goalscorer of that season, which was first introduced in 2011.
Manager of the Year
Youth Player of the Year
There is also an award that is awarded to the U-23 player of the year, which was first introduced in 2017.
Goalkeeper of the Year
Sponsors
Title sponsor
The current official title sponsor of the Chinese Super League is
China Resources Beverage
China Resources Beverage (Holdings) Ltd. or CR Beverage () is the division of China Resources that sells soft drinks. Its head office is in the north area of the Hi-tech Park (新科技园 ''Xīn Kējì Yuán'') in Nanshan District, Shenzhen. , since 2024.
Partners and suppliers
As well as sponsorship for the league itself, the Chinese Super League has a number of official partners and suppliers. The official equipment supplier for the league is Nike who have had the contract since the 2005 season. According to data published by Imedia Culture Communication Co., Ltd, the sponsor value from official partners and suppliers of Chinese Super League reaches 600 million Yuan in 2017 season.
The following table shows the partners and suppliers of the Chinese Super League. Bold denotes current sponsor.
Media coverage
China
The first broadcast rights holders of the rebranded Chinese Super League was the Shanghai Media Group (SMG). In September 2003, they signed a three-year contract for 2004, 2005 and 2006 seasons. The second SMG contract was signed in February 2007 for the five-year period from 2007 to 2011.
CCTV
Closed-circuit television (CCTV), also known as video surveillance, is the use of closed-circuit television cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place on a limited set of monitors. It differs from broadcast television in that the signa ...
acquired the CSL television rights in 2012, and they held the rights until 2015 under annual contract. CSL was broadcast in CCTV's public cable TV channel CCTV5 and CCTV5+ but the satellite TV rights were sold to Cloud Media from 2014 to 2017.
Starting from the 2016 season, the Chinese Super League sold its television rights on a collective basis. However, it benefits CSL clubs almost equally according to CSL commercial contracts. The money is divided into three parts: 10% reserved for the Chinese football association and CSL company, which is paid out as facilities fees and management expenses, as to the remaining 90%, 81% of them is divided equally between the clubs; and 9% is awarded on a merit basis based on final league position.
The current media rights holder is the China Sports Media Co., Ltd. (CSM, simplified Chinese: 体奥动力, pinyin: tǐ ào dòng lì) CSM bought the rights for five seasons (2016–2020) for 8 billion yuan in October 2015. On January 24, 2018, The CSL and CSM reached an agreement to extend the original five-year contract to a 10-year one (2016–2025) and to raise the price to 11 billion yuan, about 1.73 billion dollars according to the exchange rate then prevailing.
Worldwide
Outside of China, currently
IMG holds the global media rights to the Chinese Super League. The first contract was signed in 2016 for two seasons, and in 2018 IMG and CSM has sealed a three-year extension. The CSL is now broadcasting in 96 countries across the world.
- other matches also available on
Sportdigital
Reserve league and Elite league
In early years the reserve league was open to all of the reserve teams from the Chinese Super League, China League One, and China League Two clubs. In 2011, the lower leagues started their own reserve league. The CSL reserve league strictly allows CSL clubs to compete, it is played at the next day of the regular league, also in home and away format, since 2018, the reserve league is held in the same venue of the regular league.
From 2014 to 2017, an elite league was held under the reserve league, restricted to players between 17 and 19 years old.
Youth development and Youth Super League
Since the inception of the CSL, the CFA has required all of its clubs to operate youth development, yet it was not a strict criteria until 2018. In the CSL club criteria created in 2017, clubs who could not meet the youth development programme criteria will be relegated to lower leagues.
According to the CSL club criteria, the youth teams of CSL clubs must have their own training center, coaching staff, and medical group, and a minimum of 15% of club budgets must be invested into youth programmes. CSL clubs are required to have 5 youth level teams at ages U19, U17, U15, U14 and U13. Clubs must have youth academies and introduce grassroots football plans to cooperate with local football associations, school and social corporations.
In 2017 the Youth League system was officially rebranded as Youth Super League. YSL is open to all the youth teams of all professional clubs, selected football academies and local FA training teams in China. Since
2018
Events January
* January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency.
* January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...
the U19 Youth Super league is played with two groups of 18, a total of 36 clubs. Clubs plays home and away season with promotion and relegation introduced. The U17 and U15 Youth Super Leagues play in six regional leagues with 76 and 77 teams respectively. The U14 and U13 Youth Super leagues play in five regional leagues with 40 and 45 teams respectively.
Besides the Youth Super League, there are also other tournaments for youth teams across China, including Youth Championship plays in pre-season, Youth FA cup runs during the Youth Super League fixture, and Youth Champions Cup plays in off-season.
See also
*
Football in China
*
Chinese Football Association
The Chinese Football Association (), abbreviated as CFA (), is the governing body for association football, beach soccer and futsal in the People's Republic of China (Mainland China). The CFA organizes the men's and women's national teams an ...
*
Chinese football champions
*
Chinese football records
*
Chinese FA Cup
The Chinese FA Cup (, abbreviated as CFA Cup) is the national knockout cup competition in China organized by the Chinese Football Association. The current holders are Shanghai Port, having beaten Shandong Taishan in 2024 for their first title.
H ...
*
Chinese FA Super Cup
*
Chinese Jia-A League
The National Football Jia A League (simplified Chinese: 全国足球甲A联赛), commonly known as Jia-A, was the highest tier of professional football in the People's Republic of China, during 1994 through 2003, operating under the auspices of th ...
*
China League One
The Chinese Football League 1 (), also known as China League One or Chinese Jia League (), is the second level of professional football in China, under the Chinese Super League. The league is under the auspices of the Chinese Football Association ...
*
China League Two
The Chinese Football League 2 (), or China League Two, is the third-tier association football league of the People's Republic of China. The league is under the auspices of the Chinese Football Association and operated by the Chinese Professional ...
*
Chinese Champions League
*
List of Chinese Super League referees
References
External links
*
China – List of championsat the
RSSSF
The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation (''RSSSF'') is an international organisation dedicated to collecting statistics about association football. The foundation aims to build an exhaustive archive of football-related information from around ...
Chinese Super Leagueat theCFA.cn
Chinese Super Leagueat WildEast Football
Mathematical Predictions for Chinese Super Leagueat MaTips
{{AFC leagues
Summer association football leagues
Top-level football leagues in Asia
1
Sports leagues established in 2004
2004 establishments in China
Football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
Sports leagues in China
Professional sports leagues in China