On January 4, Beijing time, the 2021 season of the Chinese Super League was announced. In the end, Shandong Taishan won the championship, Shanghai Harbor pressed Guangzhou to win the third place, and Changchun Yatai ranked fourth and entered the AFC Champions League. Qingdao and Dalian will participate in the relegation play-offs.
This season's Chinese Super League is fragmented, the original 30 rounds of competition has become 22 rounds, and compared with last season, the results of the first stage of this season have been brought to the second stage. In the case of many teams letting go of big-name foreign aid, Shandong Taishan maintained a good lineup and strong fighting spirit, and finally won the Chinese Super League championship again after 11 years, and still won the championship 3 rounds in advance in the 22nd round of the game, it should be said that the excellence is very obvious.
The scramble for second place lasted until the last round, Shanghai Harbor beat Guangzhou 1-0, Zhang Linpeng pressed the whistle to score a penalty, and Harbor overtook his opponent in the last moment to achieve second place. Guangzhou team created the worst Chinese Super League ranking in the Evergrande era, and in the past 10 competitions, Guangzhou team has won 8 championships and 2 runners-up.
The four teams that entered the AFC Champions League were Shandong Taishan, Shanghai Haigang, Guangzhou and Changchun Yatai, in addition to Taishan, Haigang and Guangzhou, which were regulars, Yatai returned to the AFC Champions League after 11 years.
Beijing Guoan, who was hailed as a favorite to win the championship at the beginning of the season, relied on the final round to beat Shenzhen and reached the fifth place. This is also Guoan's worst record in the last four years, and the last time it was worse was the 9th place in 2017.
The relegated team has not been determined, but the bottom-ranked Qingdao and the second-to-last Dalian will participate in the relegation play-off. Among them, Qingdao team played against Zhejiang, dalian people played against Chengdu Rongcheng.
The final ranking of the Chinese Super League is as follows:
1. Shandong Taishan
2. Shanghai Seaport
3. Guangzhou team
4. Changchun Yatai
5. Beijing Guoan
6. Shenzhen team
7. Guangzhou City
8. Hebei team
9. Shanghai Shenhua
10. Henan Songshan Longmen
11. Cangzhou Lion
12. Tianjin Jinmen Tiger
13. Wuhan team
14. Chongqing Liangjiang Athletic
15. Dalian people
16. Qingdao team