2006 Chinese Super League Explained

Competition:Chinese Super League
Season:2006
Winners:Shandong Luneng
Relegated:Chongqing Lifan
Continentalcup1:AFC Champions League
Continentalcup2:A3 Champions Cup
League Topscorer: Li Jinyu (Shandong Luneng Taishan), 26 goals
Matches:210
Total Goals:496
Average Attendance:10,611
Prevseason:2005
Nextseason:2007

The 2006 Chinese Super League was the third season since the establishment of the Chinese Football Association Super League (中国足球协会超级联赛 or 中超), also known as Chinese Super League, the thirteen season of professional association football league and the 45th top-tier league season in China. The premier football league in China under the auspices of the Chinese Football Association the season started on March 11, 2006, and ended on October 22, where it was planned that would be two teams relegated at the end of the season, however this was changed to one when Sichuan First City folded before the start of the season.

Promotion and relegation

Teams promoted from 2005 China League One

Teams relegated after end of 2005 Chinese Super League

Preseason

A number of changes occurred during the off season, notably some major changes to the teams. Inter Shanghai was moved to Xi'an and was renamed Xi'an Chanba. Shanghai Zobon was renamed Shanghai United.

Beijing Hyundai, who may not renew their contract with Hyundai motors, change their team name back to their formal name, Beijing Guoan.

Shenzhen Jianlibao changed its team name to Shenzhen Kingway after finding a new sponsor in Kingway brewery.

There was also some speculation that Liaoning FC would pull out from the league, and that the Chinese Football Association had prepared a schedule with only 14 teams should Liaoning have withdrawn.

The biggest shock was the disbanding of Sichuan First City in January, so the league will only have 15 teams at the start of the season, 1 short of the 16 teams planned.

Player transfers

Shanghai Shenhua, who qualify for the AFC Champions League, boost their squad with Li Weifeng from the debt-ridden Shenzhen Jianlibao for 6.5 million RMB, the highest transfer fee this season. In additional, Shenhua bought over Liu Yunfei from Tianjin Teda for 0.9 million and recalled defender Du Wei from Glasgow Celtic.

Desperately in need of money, Shenzhen Jianlibao was also forced to sell China's first choice goalkeeper, Li Leilei to Shandong Luneng Taishan for 5 million; Former national striker Yang Chen to the newly promoted Xiamen Lanshi for 2 million and Zhou Ting to Beijing Hyundai for 3.5 million.

Other notable transfers includes Wang Liang's 5 million move from Liaoning FC to Shandong, An Qi's 4 million move from defending champions Dalian Shide to Xiamen and An Shuai, Zhou Yi, Sun Bing, Cha Kejun's four players move from Shandong to Qingdao Jonoon for 1 million each.

Foreign Players

ClubPlayer 1Player 2Player 3Player 4Former Players
Beijing Guoan Javier Musa Milton Coimbra Krisztián Kenesei
Changchun Yatai Elvis Scott Samuel Caballero Marian Aliuță Víctor Mena
Corneliu Papură
Chongqing Lifan Ortega Deniran Pavle Delibašić Darko Čordaš
Velibor Kopunović
Dalian Shide Zoran Janković Patrick Mevoungou Miodrag Pantelić
Liaoning Clément Lebe Viktor Brovchenko
Qingdao Jonoon Fabiano Dejan Saric Despot Višković Velibor Kopunović
Shandong Luneng Predrag Pažin Aleksandar Živković Branko Baković Igor Gluščević Branimir Petrović
Shanghai Shenhua Carsten Jancker Luis Ramírez Ivan Jovanović Goran Trobok
Shanghai United Aderaldo Renato Ribas Tiago Saúl Martínez Jonas
Shenyang Ginde Alex Alves Blaž Puc Taílson
Ousmane Bangoura
Shenzhen Kingway Bogdan Zając Marek Zając Graziano
Daniel Wansi
Tianjin Tigers Marcos Aurélio Benedict Akwuegbu Marko Zorić Henry Makinwa
Wuhan Optics Valley Roberto Demus Carlos Eduardo Rafael Jaques Bruno Lança
Xi'an Chanba Vicente Ivan Bulat Kwame Ayew
Xiamen Blue Lions Quinzinho Gabriel Melkam Branko Jelić Saša Zimonjić Prince Ikpe Ekong

The season

Shandong Luneng and newcomer Changchun Yatai both had a good spell early on while defending champions Dalian struggled early on. During the mid season, Changchun finally cannot kept up with the pace of the top league and gradually drops to fourth in the league. Meanwhile, a record 13 league win in a row saw Shandong Luneng Taishan gaining an unassailable lead at the top. With Shandong the clear winner, the interest in the second half of the season was the race to the second place and the fight against relegation.

In the end, Chongqing Lifan was relegated with 2 games to go while the race for second went all the way down to the wire before Shanghai Shenhua clinch the second spot with a last day win over Liaoning while Beijing slips.[1]

Top scorers

RankScorerClubGoals
1 Li JinyuShandong Luneng Taishan26
2 Zheng ZhiShandong Luneng Taishan21
3 Luis RamírezShanghai Shenhua13
4 VicenteInter Xian11
5 Han PengShandong Luneng Taishan10
Zou YougenXiamen Blue Lions
Zoran JankovićDalian Shide

Attendances

League

Clubs

TeamAverage Attendance
Shandong Luneng Taishan30,679
18,071
Xi'an Chanba17,286
Beijing Guoan13,571
Shanghai Shenhua12,786
Wuhan Optics Valley10,500
Shenzhen Kingway10,071
Changchun Yatai8,607
Xiamen Blue Lions8,071
Liaoning FC6,929
Chongqing Lifan6,536
Qingdao Jonoon6,071
Dalian Shide5,043
Shenyang Ginde2,750
Shanghai United2,193

See also

References

  1. Official CSL report by the Chinese FA (In Chinese)
  2. Same as above

External links