The 1994

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 ...

season was the inaugural season of

professional A professional is a member of a profession or any person who work (human activity), works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the partic ...

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 ...

and the 33rd top-tier overall league season held in China. The league was expanded to twelve teams and started on April 17, 1994 and ended on November 13 with Dalian Wanda winning the championship.

Overview

By the start of the 1994 league season 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 ...

had been demanding full professionalism since 1992, this meant that private businesses were allowed to own or sponsor football clubs for the first time. The Chinese FA would also sell the television rights to

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 ...

for 450,000 Yuan and gain sponsorship for the league from

Marlboro Marlboro (, ) is an American brand of cigarettes owned and manufactured by Philip Morris USA (a branch of Altria) within the United States and by Philip Morris International (PMI, now separate from Altria) in most global territories outside the ...

. Clubs were awarded with a 700,000 Yuan season appearance fee which saw the average monthly players wages jump up significantly from 100

Dollars Dollar is the name of more than 25 currencies. The United States dollar, named after the international currency known as the Spanish dollar, was established in 1792 and is the first so named that still survives. Others include the Australian d ...

to 2000 Dollars. With better wages clubs could now transfer professional foreign players except for Bayi who because they're part of the

People's Liberation Army The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the military of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the People's Republic of China (PRC). It consists of four Military branch, services—People's Liberation Army Ground Force, Ground Force, People's ...

had to have active military members. The league was also expanded to twelve teams compared to eight from the previous season, while the four teams promoted came from the 1992 Chinese Jia-A League league season because there was no promotion or relegation held in the 1993 Chinese Jia-A League league season. By the end of the season Dalian Wanda won their first ever championship while Shenyang Liuyao and Jiangsu Maint were relegated at the end of the season.China League 1994
at rsssf.org

Name changes

With clubs now professional units they were allowed to gain sponsorship and would often change the clubs names to accommodate the sponsor. Below is a list of the dates on when the clubs officially became professional as well as when they gained their first sponsor and changed their name to accommodate this. *Dalian football club was reorganized as a professional unit on ( July 3, 1992 ), and renamed Dalian Wanda Football Club on March 8, 1994. *Guangdong Province football team football club was reorganized as a professional unit on ( September 15, 1992 ) and renamed Guangdong Hongyuan Football Club. *Beijing football team was reorganized as a professional unit on ( December 31, 1992 ) and renamed

Beijing Guoan Football Club Beijing Guoan Football Club (), known in Asian Football Confederation, AFC competitions as Beijing FC, is a Chinese professional Association football, football club based in Beijing, that competes in . Beijing Guoan plays its home matches at t ...

. *Guangzhou City football team was reorganized as a professional unit on ( January 8, 1993 ) and renamed Guangzhou Apollo Football Club. *Sichuan Province football team was reorganized as a professional unit on ( November 8, 1993 ) and renamed Sichuan Quanxing Football Club. *Shandong Province football team was reorganized as a professional unit on ( December 2, 1993 ) and renamed Shandong Taishan Football Club on January 29, 1994. *Shanghai football team was reorganized as a professional unit on ( December 10, 1993 ) and renamed Shanghai Shenhua Football Club. *Liaoning Province football team was reorganized as a professional unit on ( February 26, 1994 ) and renamed Liaoning Yuandong *Jiangsu Province football team was reorganized as a professional unit on ( March 28, 1994 ) and renamed Jiangsu Maint *Jilin Province football team was reorganized as a professional unit in ( 1994 ) and renamed Jilin Samsung Football Club *Shenyang City football team was reorganized as a professional unit at the end of ( 1995 ) and renamed Shenyang Liuyao Football Club.

Managerial changes

Foreign players

League standings

Top scorers

References

External links

China - List of final tables (RSSSF)
at Zuqiuziliao.cn {{Chinese Jia-A League seasons Chinese Jia-A League seasons 1

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 ...

1994 establishments in China