2015 Chinese Super League

The 2015 Ping An Chinese Football Association Super League (Chinese: 2015中国平安中国足球协会超级联赛)^[1] was the 12th season since the establishment of the Chinese Super League, the 22nd season of a professional Association football league and the 54th top-tier league season in China. ^{[citation needed]} The league title sponsor was Ping An Insurance.^[2] Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao won their fifth consecutive title of the league.

Chinese Super League

Season	2015
Dates	4 March – 31 October 2015
Champions	Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao 5th title
Relegated	Shanghai Shenxin Guizhou Renhe
AFC Champions League	Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao Shanghai SIPG Shandong Luneng Taishan
Matches played	240
Goals scored	672 (2.8 per match)
Top goalscorer	Aloísio (22 goals)
Biggest home win	Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao 7–0 Chongqing Lifan (Jul. 5th, 2015) (7 goals)
Biggest away win	Shanghai Shenxin 0–4 Beijing Guoan (Sept. 27th, 2015) (4 goals)
Highest scoring	Shanghai Greenland Shenhua 6–2 Shanghai Shenxin (Mar. 8th, 2015) (8 goals) Shanghai SIPG 5–3 Changchun Yatai (Jun. 19th, 2015) (8 goals)
Longest winning run	Shanghai SIPG (6 matches)
Longest unbeaten run	Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao (26 matches)
Longest winless run	Tianjin TEDA (13 matches)
Longest losing run	Shanghai Shenxin (6 matches)
Highest attendance	53,526 Beijing Guoan 0–2 Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao (Oct 31st, 2015)
Lowest attendance	4,807 Guangzhou R&F 0–0 Liaoning Whowin (May 1st, 2015)
Average attendance	22,193 (31 October)
← 2014 2016 →

Team changes

Teams promoted from 2014 China League One

• Chongqing Lifan
• Shijiazhuang Ever Bright

Teams relegated to 2015 China League One

• Dalian Aerbin
• Harbin Yiteng

Chongqing Lifan returned to the division after a 4-year absence; Shijiazhuang Ever Bright competed in the Chinese Super League for the first time in the club's history. Dalian Aerbin were relegated after three years in the Chinese top-flight, while Harbin Yiteng were relegated to China League One after spending a season in the Chinese Super League.

Name changes

• Shanghai Dongya changed their name to Shanghai SIPG in December 2014.^[3]
• Guangzhou Evergrande changed their name to Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao in December 2014.^[4]
• Jiangsu Sainty changed their name to Jiangsu Guoxin-Sainty in January 2015.^[5]

Clubs

Clubs and locations

^{[citation needed]}

Club	Head coach	Captain	City	Stadium	Capacity	2014 season
Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao TH	Luiz Felipe Scolari	Zheng Zhi	Guangzhou	Tianhe Stadium	58,500	1st
Beijing Guoan	Gregorio Manzano	Xu Yunlong	Beijing	Workers' Stadium	66,161	2nd
Guangzhou R&F	Dragan Stojković	Zhang Yaokun	Guangzhou	Yuexiushan Stadium	18,000	3rd
Shandong Luneng Taishan	Cuca	Wang Dalei	Jinan	Jinan Olympic Sports Center Stadium	56,808	4th
Shanghai SIPG	Sven-Göran Eriksson	Sun Xiang	Shanghai	Shanghai Stadium	56,842	5th
Guizhou Renhe	Gong Lei	Zhang Lie	Guiyang	Guiyang Olympic Sports Center	51,636	6th
Tianjin TEDA	Arie Haan	Zhou Haibin	Tianjin	Tianjin Olympic Centre	54,696	7th
Jiangsu Guoxin-Sainty	Dan Petrescu	Lu Bofei	Nanjing	Nanjing Olympic Sports Centre	61,443	8th
Shanghai Greenland Shenhua	Francis Gillot	Giovanni Moreno	Shanghai	Hongkou Football Stadium	33,060	9th
Liaoning Whowin	Ma Lin	Zhao Junzhe	Shenyang (playing in Panjin)	Panjin Jinxiu Stadium	35,600	10th
Shanghai Shenxin	Liu Junwei	Yu Tao	Shanghai	Yuanshen Sports Centre Stadium	16,000	11th
Hangzhou Greentown	Yang Ji	Wang Lin	Hangzhou	Huanglong Sports Center	52,672	12th
Changchun Yatai	Marijo Tot	Yan Feng	Changchun	Development Area Stadium	25,000	13th
Henan Jianye	Jia Xiuquan	Ivo	Zhengzhou	Hanghai Stadium	29,860	14th
Chongqing Lifan P	Wang Baoshan	Wang Dong	Chongqing	Chongqing Olympic Sports Center	58,680	CL1, 1st
Shijiazhuang Ever Bright P	Yasen Petrov	Li Chao	Shijiazhuang	Yutong International Sports Center	29,000	CL1, 2nd

Beijing Guoan

Changchun Yatai

Shandong Luneng Taishan

Shanghai Greenland Shenhua
Shanghai Shenxin
Shanghai SIPG

Tianjin TEDA

Hangzhou Greentown

Chongqing Lifan

Jiangsu Guoxin-Sainty

Guizhou Renhe

Liaoning Whowin

Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao
Guangzhou R&F

Shijiazhuang Ever Bright

Henan Jianye

Location of teams in 2015 Chinese Super League

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Date of vacancy	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao	Marcello Lippi	2 November 2014[6]	Fabio Cannavaro	5 November 2014
Guangzhou R&F	Sven-Göran Eriksson	10 November 2014[7]	Cosmin Contra	18 December 2014[8]
Changchun Yatai	Dragan Okuka	12 November 2014[9]	Gao Jinggang	19 December 2014[10]
Shanghai SIPG	Xi Zhikang	18 November 2014	Sven-Göran Eriksson	18 November 2014[11]
Hangzhou Greentown	Yang Ji	2 December 2014	Philippe Troussier	2 December 2014[12]
Shanghai Greenland Shenhua	Sergio Batista	4 December 2014[13]	Francis Gillot	4 December 2014[14]
Shanghai Shenxin	Guo Guangqi	13 April 2015[15]	Liu Junwei	13 April 2015[15]
Guizhou Renhe	Zhu Jiong	28 April 2015[16]	Li Chunman (caretaker)	28 April 2015[16]
Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao	Fabio Cannavaro	4 June 2015[17]	Luiz Felipe Scolari	4 June 2015[18]
Changchun Yatai	Gao Jinggang	12 June 2015[19]	Marijo Tot	12 June 2015[19]
Jiangsu Guoxin-Sainty	Gao Hongbo	29 June 2015[20]	Arie Schans (caretaker)	29 June 2015[21]
Hangzhou Greentown	Philippe Troussier	1 July 2015[22]	Yang Ji	1 July 2015[22]
Guizhou Renhe	Li Chunman (caretaker)	8 July 2015	Gong Lei	8 July 2015[23]
Jiangsu Guoxin-Sainty	Arie Schans (caretaker)	9 July 2015[20]	Dan Petrescu	9 July 2015[24]
Guangzhou R&F	Cosmin Contra	22 July 2015[25]	Li Bing (caretaker)	22 July 2015[25]
Liaoning Whowin	Chen Yang	2 August 2015[26]	Ma Lin	2 August 2015[26]
Guangzhou R&F	Li Bing (caretaker)	24 August 2015[27]	Dragan Stojković	24 August 2015[27]

Foreign players

The number of foreign players is restricted to five per CSL team, including a slot for a player from AFC countries. A team can use four foreign players on the field in each game, including at least one player from the AFC country. Players from Hong Kong, Macau and Chinese Taipei are deemed to be native players in CSL. However, those players will be treated as foreign Asia players if they participate in any AFC competitions.^[28]

• Players name in bold indicates the players that were registered during the mid-season transfer window.
• Players name in italics indicates the players that were out of squads or left their respective clubs during the mid-season transfer window.

Club	Player 1	Player 2	Player 3	Player 4	AFC player	Former players
Beijing Guoan	Pablo Batalla	Kléber	Darko Matić	Dejan Damjanović	Ha Dae-sung	Erton Fejzullahu
Changchun Yatai	Marcelo Moreno	Ákos Elek	Szabolcs Huszti	Moussa Maâzou	Anzur Ismailov
Chongqing Lifan	Emanuel Gigliotti	Fernandinho	Jael	Issam El Adoua	Adrian Leijer	Guto Jajá
Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao	Elkeson	Paulinho	Ricardo Goulart	Robinho	Kim Young-gwon	Alan Renê Júnior
Guangzhou R&F	Renatinho	Jeremy Bokila	Aaron Samuel	Míchel	Jang Hyun-soo	Abderrazak Hamdallah Park Jong-woo
Guizhou Renhe	Sejad Salihović	Zvjezdan Misimović	Hyuri	Ricardo Santos	Park Ju-sung	Krzysztof Mączyński Magnus Eriksson
Hangzhou Greentown	Matthew Spiranovic	Anselmo Ramon	Davy Claude Angan	Miloš Bosančić	Roda Antar	Bassem Boulaabi Imed Louati
Henan Jianye	Ivo	Eddi Gomes	Javier Patiño	Mateusz Zachara	Jung In-whan
Jiangsu Guoxin-Sainty	Sammir	Sölvi Ottesen	Viðar Örn Kjartansson	Marius Constantin	Sergio Escudero	Eleílson
Liaoning Whowin	Paulo Henrique	Franck Boli	Derick Ogbu	Eric Bicfalvi	Kim Yoo-jin	Josh Mitchell James Chamanga
Shandong Luneng Taishan	Walter Montillo	Aloísio	Diego Tardelli	Junior Urso	Jucilei 1
Shanghai Greenland Shenhua	Giovanni Moreno	Avraam Papadopoulos 2	Mohamed Sissoko	Demba Ba	Tim Cahill	Paulo Henrique Stoppila Sunzu
Shanghai Shenxin	Everton	Johnny	Michael Barrantes	Daniel Chima Chukwu		Zé Eduardo Lim You-hwan
Shanghai SIPG	Darío Conca	Davi	Asamoah Gyan	Tobias Hysén	Kim Ju-young	Jean Evrard Kouassi
Shijiazhuang Ever Bright	Eiður Guðjohnsen	Rúben Micael	Mario Rondón	Jacob Mulenga	Cho Yong-hyung	Rodrigo Defendi Georgi Iliev
Tianjin TEDA	Hernán Barcos	Lucas Fonseca	Wágner	Cristian Tănase	Morteza Pouraliganji	Andrezinho Wilmar Jordán

• ^1 Jucilei owns Palestine citizenship and was counted as an Asian player in the Chinese Super League
• ^2 Avraam Papadopoulos owns Australian citizenship and could play as an Asian player in the Chinese Super League

Hong Kong/Macau/Taiwan outfield players (doesn't count on the foreign or Asian player slot in CSL)^[28]

Club	Player 1
Changchun Yatai	Ko Yu-ting
Guizhou Renhe	Xavier Chen
Hangzhou Greentown	Chen Po-liang
Shijiazhuang Ever Bright	Bai He

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao (C)	30	19	10	1	71	28	+43	67	Qualification to Champions League group stage
2	Shanghai SIPG	30	19	8	3	63	35	+28	65	Qualification to Champions League play-off round
3	Shandong Luneng Taishan	30	18	5	7	66	41	+25	59	Qualification to Champions League preliminary round 2
4	Beijing Guoan	30	16	8	6	46	26	+20	56
5	Henan Jianye	30	12	10	8	35	30	+5	46
6	Shanghai Greenland Shenhua	30	12	6	12	42	44	−2	42
7	Shijiazhuang Ever Bright	30	8	15	7	34	31	+3	39
8	Chongqing Lifan	30	9	8	13	37	52	−15	35[a]
9	Jiangsu Guoxin-Sainty[b]	30	9	8	13	39	48	−9	35[a]	Qualification to Champions League group stage
10	Changchun Yatai	30	8	11	11	39	47	−8	35[a]
11	Hangzhou Greentown	30	8	9	13	27	35	−8	33
12	Liaoning Whowin	30	7	10	13	30	46	−16	31[c]
13	Tianjin TEDA	30	7	10	13	39	46	−7	31[c]
14	Guangzhou R&F	30	8	7	15	35	41	−6	31[c]
15	Guizhou Renhe (R)	30	7	8	15	39	52	−13	29	Relegation to League One
16	Shanghai Shenxin (R)	30	4	5	21	30	70	−40	17

Source: sports.sina.com (in Chinese)
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goals scored; 4) head-to-head away goals scored; 5)goal difference; 6) number of goals scored; 7) disciplinary points (1 point for each yellow card, 3 points for each red card). Head-to-Head: Only used at the end of the season when two or more teams need the head-to-head rules to break a tie.
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Head-to-head points: Chongqing Lifan 6 pts, Jiangsu Guoxin-Sainty 5 pts, Changchun Yatai 5 pts; Head-to-head results between Jiangsu and Changchun — Jiangsu: 2 pts, 0 goal difference and 2 away goals, Changchun: 2 pts 0 goal difference and 1 away goal.
2. Jiangsu Guoxin-Sainty qualified for the 2016 AFC Champions League group stage as winners of the 2015 Chinese FA Cup.
3. Head-to-head points: Liaoning Whowin 8 pts, Tianjin TEDA 4 pts, Guangzhou R&F 4 pts; Head-to-head results between Tianjin and Guangzhou R&F — Tianjin: 3 pts, +1 goal difference, Guangzhou R&F: 3 pts −1 goal difference.

Results

Home \ Away	GZE	SD	BJ	GZM	SJZ	GZF	SHS	SGS	SSI	LN	TJ	HZ	JSS	CC	HN	CQ
Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao		2–2	0–0	3–0	2–1	2–2	6–1	2–2	1–1	6–1	2–2	1–0	3–3	1–1	1–1	7–0
Shandong Luneng Taishan	1–2		3–0	5–2	3–1	1–2	2–2	2–0	0–1	2–0	2–3	2–1	5–1	2–0	2–1	3–0
Beijing Guoan	0–2	3–1		2–2	3–1	2–0	2–1	2–0	0–0	2–0	3–0	4–0	1–0	3–1	1–0	2–0
Guizhou Renhe	2–3	2–2	2–1		0–0	2–2	2–1	1–2	2–0	0–1	0–1	1–2	0–1	2–2	2–0	0–1
Shijiazhuang Ever Bright	1–1	1–1	2–2	1–2		1–0	2–1	2–0	2–2	1–1	4–3	0–0	2–1	0–0	0–1	2–0
Guangzhou R&F	1–2	2–4	0–0	4–0	0–0		1–3	0–1	2–3	0–0	1–0	2–0	2–1	2–2	1–2	2–0
Shanghai Shenxin	2–4	1–2	0–4	2–5	0–0	2–1		1–1	0–2	2–1	0–1	2–0	0–1	1–4	1–2	0–1
Shanghai Greenland Shenhua	0–3	1–2	3–1	1–1	0–0	1–0	6–2		1–2	3–1	1–0	2–0	3–1	3–0	1–0	2–2
Shanghai SIPG	0–3	3–4	1–1	3–1	2–2	2–1	2–0	5–0		2–1	2–1	2–1	2–1	5–3	3–0	2–1
Liaoning Whowin	1–3	3–2	1–0	2–1	1–1	0–0	1–1	1–0	1–3		3–2	0–2	2–3	2–2	0–1	1–1
Tianjin TEDA	0–2	1–3	4–0	3–4	1–1	2–0	4–1	1–1	0–0	0–0		0–0	1–0	1–1	2–3	0–3
Hangzhou Greentown	0–1	0–1	1–1	1–0	1–1	1–2	4–2	4–1	1–1	0–0	2–1		2–1	0–1	0–0	1–3
Jiangsu Guoxin-Sainty	0–1	2–3	0–0	2–0	2–1	2–2	1–0	3–2	1–4	2–1	1–1	1–1		1–1	1–1	1–2
Changchun Yatai	0–2	1–2	1–2	2–1	0–3	1–2	1–1	3–1	0–2	2–1	2–2	1–0	2–2		2–0	2–1
Henan Jianye	2–1	1–0	0–1	1–1	0–1	1–0	5–0	2–1	2–2	1–1	3–1	0–0	1–0	0–0		3–3
Chongqing Lifan	1–2	2–2	0–3	1–1	1–0	2–1	2–0	0–2	2–4	1–1	1–1	1–2	2–3	2–1	1–1

Updated to match(es) played on 31 October 2015. Source: Results on the official website of the Chinese Super League (in Chinese)
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Positions by round

Team ╲ Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30
Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao	5	4	4	7	3	2	2	2	2	2	3	2	2	1	1	3	3	3	3	2	2	1	2	2	1	1	1	1	1	1
Shanghai SIPG	5	3	2	2	2	1	1	1	1	1	2	4	4	4	3	2	2	2	1	1	1	2	1	1	2	2	2	2	2	2
Shandong Luneng Taishan	4	6	6	3	5	8	5	6	4	4	1	1	1	3	4	4	4	4	4	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	4	4	3	3
Beijing Guoan	2	2	3	1	1	3	6	3	3	3	4	3	3	2	2	1	1	1	2	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	3	3	4	4
Henan Jianye	3	7	7	6	7	4	7	8	9	10	11	12	10	5	5	5	5	5	5	6	8	7	8	7	6	5	5	5	5	5
Shanghai Greenland Shenhua	1	1	1	4	4	6	3	7	7	7	9	9	11	9	11	11	7	7	6	5	5	6	6	6	5	6	7	7	7	6
Shijiazhuang Ever Bright	9	12	12	14	12	13	10	11	10	8	7	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	7	7	6	5	5	5	7	7	6	6	6	7
Chongqing Lifan	15	15	15	15	15	15	14	14	14	13	13	14	14	12	9	10	13	13	10	10	10	10	11	9	10	10	10	8	10	8
Jiangsu Guoxin-Sainty	9	7	10	9	9	7	8	5	6	6	6	5	6	7	6	6	6	6	8	8	7	8	7	8	8	8	9	9	8	9
Changchun Yatai	14	13	13	12	13	11	12	12	13	14	14	11	9	13	7	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	10	9	9	8	10	9	10
Hangzhou Greentown	9	10	11	10	10	12	13	13	11	12	12	13	13	11	13	14	11	11	13	12	13	11	12	11	11	11	12	11	13	11
Liaoning Whowin	8	4	4	5	8	10	9	9	8	9	10	10	12	14	14	13	14	14	14	14	15	15	13	14	12	12	13	12	11	12
Tianjin TEDA	13	11	14	13	11	9	11	10	12	11	8	6	5	6	10	12	12	12	12	13	14	14	14	15	15	13	14	14	14	13
Guangzhou R&F	5	9	8	8	6	5	4	4	5	5	5	7	7	10	12	7	10	10	11	11	11	12	15	12	13	14	11	13	12	14
Guizhou Renhe	12	14	9	11	14	14	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	12	13	10	13	14	15	15	15	15	15
Shanghai Shenxin	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16

	Leader and qualification to AFC Champions League group stage
	Qualification to AFC Champions League play-off round
	Qualification to AFC Champions League preliminary round 2
	Relegation to League One

Source: Table by round (in Chinese)

Goalscorers

Top scorers

Rank	Player	Club	Total
1	Aloísio	Shandong Luneng Taishan	22
2	Ricardo Goulart	Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao	19
3	Dejan Damjanović	Beijing Guoan	16
4	Emanuel Gigliotti	Chongqing Lifan	15
	Hernán Barcos	Tianjin TEDA
6	Wu Lei	Shanghai SIPG	14
7	Gao Lin	Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao	13
	Jacob Mulenga	Shijiazhuang Ever Bright
9	Anselmo Ramon	Hangzhou Greentown	12
	Tobias Hysén	Shanghai SIPG

Last updated: 31 October 2015
Source: csl.sina.com.cn

Hat-tricks

Player	For	Against	Result	Date
Paulo Henrique	Shanghai Greenland Shenhua	Shanghai Shenxin	6–2[29]	8 March 2015
Ricardo Goulart	Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao	Shanghai Shenxin	6–1[30]	10 May 2015
Dejan Damjanović	Beijing Guoan	Changchun Yatai	3–1[31]	16 September 2015
Demba Ba	Shanghai Greenland Shenhua	Jiangsu Guoxin-Sainty	3–1[32]	31 October 2015

League attendance

Pos	Team	Total	High	Low	Average	Change
1	Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao	688,339	51,025	38,154	45,889	+8.9%†
2	Beijing Guoan	614,952	53,526	33,636	40,997	+4.1%†
3	Chongqing Lifan	563,918	48,530	28,660	37,595	+183.7%† †
4	Jiangsu Guoxin-Sainty	402,867	49,748	11,540	26,858	+10.3%†
5	Shanghai SIPG	395,721	46,977	18,008	26,381	+111.7%†
6	Shijiazhuang Ever Bright	376,053	27,113	20,911	25,070	+109.8%† †
7	Shandong Luneng Taishan	338,385	41,155	10,156	22,559	−5.7%†
8	Henan Jianye	303,099	21,677	17,715	20,207	+9.9%†
9	Tianjin TEDA	294,908	41,899	8,226	19,661	+14.4%†
10	Shanghai Greenland Shenhua	292,597	25,751	12,353	19,506	+26.5%†
11	Guizhou Renhe	227,078	25,381	7,283	15,139	+22.8%†
12	Changchun Yatai	222,818	28,615	9,621	14,855	+15.3%†
13	Liaoning Whowin	191,827	21,037	5,827	12,788	+0.1%†
14	Hangzhou Greentown	188,487	26,681	8,579	12,566	−8.7%†
15	Guangzhou R&F	119,839	13,685	4,807	7,989	−30.5%†
16	Shanghai Shenxin	105,416	11,183	5,587	7,028	−30.5%†
	League total	5,326,304	53,526	4,807	22,193	+16.9%†

Updated to games played on October 31, 2015
Source: CSL official data (in Chinese)
Notes:
^† Teams played previous season in CL1.

Awards

The awards of 2015 Chinese Super League were announced on 10 November 2015.^[33]

• Chinese Football Association Footballer of the Year: Ricardo Goulart (Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao)
• Chinese Super League Golden Boot Winner: Aloísio (Shandong Luneng Taishan)
• Chinese Super League Domestic Golden Boot Award: Wu Lei (Shanghai SIPG)
• Chinese Football Association Goalkeeper of the Year: Zeng Cheng (Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao)
• Chinese Football Association Manager of the Year: Luiz Felipe Scolari (Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao)
• Chinese Football Association Referee of the Year: Tan Hai
• Chinese Super League Fair Play Award: Shijiazhuang Ever Bright, Hangzhou Greentown, Chongqing Lifan
• Chinese Super League Team of the Year (442):
  • GK Zeng Cheng (Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao)
  • DF Zhang Linpeng (Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao), Kim Young-gwon (Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao), Feng Xiaoting (Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao), Xu Yunlong (Beijing Guoan)
  • MF Zheng Zhi (Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao), Huang Bowen (Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao), Wu Xi (Jiangsu Guoxin-Sainty), Darío Conca (Shanghai SIPG)
  • FW Ricardo Goulart (Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao), Wu Lei (Shanghai SIPG)