Over the past decade, Chinese soccer has made significant progress. Leading clubs have started inviting famous players and coaches, raising the overall level of soccer in the world’s largest country.
The Super League was created in 2004. Before that, since 1926, China’s top football clubs had competed in the top division. Shenzhen Jianlibo became the first Super League champion in the history of Chinese soccer, ahead of Shandong Luneng and Inter of Shanghai.
The most titled club in the history of the Chinese Super League is Guangzhou Evergrande. It dominated from 2011 to 2017 and also won the 2019 championship. Guangzhou has also won the AFC Champions League twice (2013, 2015) and ranks first in the Asian Football Confederation club rankings.
Soccer Super League regulations in China
Twelve teams participated in the first draw of the Super League. At the end of it, not a single team was downgraded, thanks to which the number of Super League clubs in 2005 increased to 14. The same formula was used to expand China’s strongest soccer league to 16 teams a year later.
Before the 2019 season, the competition was held in a classic 2-circle system with home and away games against each Super League participant. However, because of Covid-19, the formula for the 2020 and 2021 championships changed: the teams were divided geographically into groups A and B, with eight clubs each. It allowed the elimination of long-distance travel, as required by the MOH of China, to reduce the risk of spreading the epidemic across the country. At the end of the group round, two eight of playoffs were formed: the clubs ranked 1-4 in the groups, in 2-match confrontations ¼, ½ and finals to determine the champion and medalists. Teams ranked 5 to 8 also fought in the playoffs to retain their place in China’s elite soccer division.
In 2022, the Super League returned to its standard format with a 2-circle system. In addition, the number of participating teams increased to 18 as the Chinese Football Federation decided that the outsiders of the 2021 season would not be relegated. As standard, the top two teams in the 2021 First League were eligible to play in the Super League.
Popularization of the Super League
After the creation of the Super League, interest in Chinese soccer increased many times. Big sponsors (Pirelli, IPhoX, and other famous brands) began to come in, and matches were broadcast by the world’s leading sports broadcasters – Sky Sports and Eurosport. Thanks to the sponsorship contracts, clubs began to earn more money, which allowed them to sign famous players. At different times Brazilians Alexandre Pato, Fernandinho, Hulk, Belgian Axel Witsel, Israeli Eran Zahavi, and many other soccer stars have played here. Such experts coached the clubs of China’s strongest soccer league as Marcelo Lippi, Sven-Goran Eriksson, Luiz Felipe Scolari, Felix Magath, and other well-known personalities.
Where to follow the Chinese Super League soccer?
Among soccer fans, the most popular service that covers the China League live is the Livescores website. For fans, there are online broadcasts in text mode, and the central matches of the tour are possible to watch for free in the live video broadcast.
Results and standings are updated in real-time on the service. Also, visitors have access to detailed statistics by clubs, all the results of games already played, and the calendar of upcoming matches. Furthermore, the LiveScores portal is translated into many languages, which makes it convenient to use for soccer fans from all over the world. Moreover, the service is available to PC users and modern mobile devices, which makes it even more popular.