2016 Chinese Super League

The 2016 Ping An Chinese Football Association Super League (Chinese: 2016中国平安中国足球协会超级联赛)^[1] was the 13th season since the establishment of the Chinese Super League.^[2][3] The league title sponsor was Ping An Insurance.^[4][5] Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao won their sixth consecutive title of the league.

Chinese Super League

Season	2016
Dates	4 March - 30 October 2016
Champions	Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao (6th title)
Relegated	Hangzhou Greentown Shijiazhuang Ever Bright
AFC Champions League	Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao Jiangsu Suning Shanghai SIPG Shanghai Greenland Shenhua
Matches played	240
Goals scored	640 (2.67 per match)
Top goalscorer	Ricardo Goulart (19 goals)
Best goalkeeper	Zeng Cheng (10 clean sheets)
Biggest home win	Shanghai SIPG 5–0 Henan Jianye (Jul 10th, 2016) (5 goals)
Biggest away win	Shijiazhuang Ever Bright 0–6 Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao (Oct 15th, 2016) (6 goals)
Highest scoring	Chongqing Lifan 4–5 Guangzhou R&F (Aug 21st, 2016) (9 goals)
Longest winning run	Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao (9 matches)
Longest unbeaten run	Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao (17 matches)
Longest winless run	Chongqing Lifan Hangzhou Greentown (11 matches)
Longest losing run	Hebei China Fortune (5 matches)
Highest attendance	53,080 Beijing Guoan 0–3 Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao (Apr 9th, 2016)
Lowest attendance	5,135 Hangzhou Greentown 0–1 Guangzhou R&F (Jun 11th, 2016)
Average attendance	24,159
← 2015 2017 → All statistics correct as of 30 October 2016.

The run-up to the season saw clubs spend £200 million on players.^[6]

Club changes

Clubs promoted from 2015 China League One

• Yanbian Changbaishan
• Hebei Zhongji

Clubs relegated to 2016 China League One

• Guizhou Renhe
• Shanghai Shenxin

Yanbian Changbaishan and Hebei Zhongji both competed in the Chinese Super League for the first time in their respective histories. Guizhou Renhe were relegated after a 14-year spell in the Chinese top-flight, while Shanghai Shenxin were relegated to China League One after spending 6 seasons in the Chinese Super League.

Name changes

• Hebei Zhongji changed their name to Hebei China Fortune in December 2015.^[7]
• Jiangsu Guoxin-Sainty changed their name to Jiangsu Suning^[8] in December 2015.^[9]
• Yanbian Changbaishan changed their name to Yanbian Funde^[8] in January 2016.^[10]

Clubs

Clubs and locations

Team[11]	Head coach	City[8]	Stadium	Capacity	2015 season
Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao TH	Luiz Felipe Scolari	Guangzhou	Tianhe Stadium	58,500	1st
Shanghai SIPG	Sven-Göran Eriksson	Shanghai	Shanghai Stadium	56,842	2nd
Shandong Luneng Taishan	Felix Magath	Jinan	Jinan Olympic Sports Center Stadium	56,808	3rd
Beijing Guoan	Xie Feng (caretaker)	Beijing	Workers' Stadium	66,161	4th
Henan Jianye	Jia Xiuquan	Zhengzhou	Hanghai Stadium	29,860	5th
Shanghai Greenland Shenhua	Gregorio Manzano	Shanghai	Hongkou Football Stadium	33,060	6th
Shijiazhuang Ever Bright	Li Jinyu (caretaker)	Shijiazhuang	Yutong International Sports Center	29,000	7th
Chongqing Lifan	Chang Woe-ryong	Chongqing	Chongqing Olympic Sports Center	58,680	8th
Jiangsu Suning	Choi Yong-soo	Nanjing	Nanjing Olympic Sports Centre	61,443	9th
Changchun Yatai	Lee Jang-soo	Changchun	Development Area Stadium	25,000	10th
Hangzhou Greentown	Hong Myung-bo	Hangzhou	Huanglong Sports Center	52,672	11th
Liaoning Whowin	Ma Lin	Shenyang	Shenyang Olympic Sports Centre Stadium	60,000	12th
Tianjin TEDA	Jaime Pacheco	Tianjin	Tianjin Olympic Centre	54,696	13th
Guangzhou R&F	Dragan Stojković	Guangzhou	Yuexiushan Stadium	18,000	14th
Yanbian Funde P	Park Tae-ha	Yanji	Yanji Stadium	30,000	CL1, 1st
Hebei China Fortune P	Manuel Pellegrini	Qinhuangdao	Qinhuangdao Olympic Sports Center Stadium	33,572	CL1, 2nd

Beijing Guoan

Yanbian Funde

Changchun Yatai

Shandong Luneng Taishan

Shanghai Greenland Shenhua
Shanghai SIPG

Tianjin TEDA

Hangzhou Greentown

Chongqing Lifan

Jiangsu Suning

Liaoning Whowin

Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao
Guangzhou R&F

Shijiazhuang Ever Bright

Henan Jianye

Hebei China Fortune

Location of teams in 2016 Chinese Super League

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Date of vacancy	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Beijing Guoan	Gregorio Manzano	26 November 2015[12]	Alberto Zaccheroni	19 January 2016[13]
Shanghai Greenland Shenhua	Francis Gillot	29 November 2015[14]	Gregorio Manzano	18 December 2015[15]
Chongqing Lifan	Wang Baoshan	30 November 2015[16]	Chang Woe-ryong	7 December 2015[17]
Shandong Luneng Taishan	Cuca	6 December 2015[18]	Mano Menezes	6 December 2015[19]
Hangzhou Greentown	Yang Ji	17 December 2015	Hong Myung-bo	17 December 2015[20]
Tianjin TEDA	Arie Haan	18 December 2015	Dragan Okuka	18 December 2015[21]
Changchun Yatai	Marijo Tot	31 December 2015[22]	Slaviša Stojanovič	13 January 2016[23]
Changchun Yatai	Slaviša Stojanovič	4 May 2016[24]	Lee Jang-soo	6 May 2016[25]
Beijing Guoan	Alberto Zaccheroni	21 May 2016	Xie Feng (caretaker)	21 May 2016[26]
Jiangsu Suning	Dan Petrescu	3 June 2016	Tang Jing (caretaker)	3 June 2016[27]
Shandong Luneng Taishan	Mano Menezes	7 June 2016[28]	Felix Magath	8 June 2016[29]
Jiangsu Suning	Tang Jing (caretaker)	1 July 2016	Choi Yong-soo	1 July 2016[30]
Shijiazhuang Ever Bright	Yasen Petrov	14 July 2016	Li Jinyu (caretaker)	14 July 2016[31]
Tianjin TEDA	Dragan Okuka	2 August 2016	Jaime Pacheco	2 August 2016[32]
Hebei China Fortune	Li Tie	27 August 2016	Manuel Pellegrini	27 August 2016[33]

Foreign players

The number of foreign players is restricted to five per CSL team, including a slot for a player from AFC countries, although only four (one AFC countries player at least) can be on the field at any one time.^[34]

• 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	Ralf[35]	Renato Augusto[36]	Burak Yılmaz	Egor Krimets[35]	Igor Sergeev	Kléber[35]
Changchun Yatai	Marcelo Moreno	Bruno Meneghel	Darko Matić	Mislav Oršić	Anzur Ismailov	Julien Gorius Ognjen Ožegović
Chongqing Lifan	Emanuel Gigliotti	Alan Kardec	Fernandinho	Goran Milović	Jung Woo-young	Jael
Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao	Alan	Paulinho[36]	Ricardo Goulart[36]	Jackson Martínez[34]	Kim Young-gwon[6]
Guangzhou R&F	Apostolos Giannou	Renatinho	Eran Zahavi	Gustav Svensson	Jang Hyun-soo	Bruninho
Hangzhou Greentown	Matthew Spiranovic	Anselmo Ramon	Denílson Gabionetta	Sammir	Oh Beom-seok	Tim Cahill Davy Claude Angan
Hebei China Fortune	Aloísio	Stéphane Mbia[37]	Gaël Kakuta[37]	Gervinho[34]	Ersan Gülüm 1	Ezequiel Lavezzi[34]
Henan Jianye	Ryan McGowan	Ivo	Miral Samardžić	Osman Sow	Javier Patiño	Eddi Gomes
Jiangsu Suning	Trent Sainsbury	Alex Teixeira[34]	Ramires[34]	Roger Martínez	Hong Jeong-ho	Jô[6] Sammir
Liaoning Whowin	Dario Vidošić	Assani Lukimya[38]	Anthony Ujah	James Chamanga	Michael Thwaite	James Troisi Ibrahima Touré
Shandong Luneng Taishan	Walter Montillo	Gil[35]	Graziano Pellè	Papiss Cissé	Jucilei 2	Aloísio Diego Tardelli
Shanghai Greenland Shenhua	Fredy Guarín[34]	Giovanni Moreno	Obafemi Martins[6]	Demba Ba[6]	Kim Kee-hee
Shanghai SIPG	Darío Conca[6]	Elkeson[6]	Hulk	Jean Evrard Kouassi	Kim Ju-young	Asamoah Gyan[6]
Shijiazhuang Ever Bright	Diego Maurício	Matheus	Jean-Philippe Mendy	Rúben Micael	Cho Yong-hyung	Mario Rondón Jacob Mulenga
Tianjin TEDA	Fredy Montero	Malick Evouna	Zainadine Júnior	Mbaye Diagne	Aleksandar Jovanović	Wágner
Yanbian Funde	Bubacarr Trawally	Nikola Petković	Ha Tae-goon	Kim Seung-dae	Yoon Bit-garam

Last updated: 16 July 2016.
Source: sports.ifeng.com (in Chinese)

• ^1 Ersan Gülüm has Australian citizenship and was counted as an Asian player in the Chinese Super League
• ^2 Jucilei has Palestine citizenship and was counted as an Asian player in the Chinese Super League

Hong Kong/Macau/Taiwan outfield players (Contracts signed before 1 January 2016 doesn't count on the foreign or Asian player slot in CSL)^[39]

Club	Player 1	Player 2
Changchun Yatai	Yaki Yen	Jack Sealy
Hangzhou Greentown	Chen Po-liang

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao (C)	30	19	7	4	62	19	+43	64	Qualification to Champions League group stage
2	Jiangsu Suning	30	17	6	7	53	33	+20	57
3	Shanghai SIPG	30	14	10	6	56	32	+24	52	Qualification to Champions League play-off round
4	Shanghai Greenland Shenhua[a]	30	12	12	6	46	31	+15	48
5	Beijing Guoan	30	11	10	9	34	26	+8	43
6	Guangzhou R&F	30	11	7	12	47	50	−3	40
7	Hebei China Fortune	30	11	7	12	34	38	−4	40
8	Chongqing Lifan	30	9	10	11	43	50	−7	37
9	Yanbian Funde	30	10	7	13	39	41	−2	37
10	Tianjin TEDA	30	9	9	12	38	50	−12	36
11	Liaoning Whowin	30	9	9	12	38	47	−9	36
12	Changchun Yatai	30	10	5	15	30	44	−14	35
13	Henan Jianye	30	10	5	15	26	44	−18	35
14	Shandong Luneng Taishan	30	9	7	14	38	45	−7	34
15	Hangzhou Greentown (R)	30	8	8	14	28	37	−9	32	Relegation to League One
16	Shijiazhuang Ever Bright (R)	30	7	9	14	28	53	−25	30

Source: Sina Sports
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head points; 3) Head-to-head goal difference; 4) Head-to-head goals scored; 5) Reserve league points; 6) Goal difference; 7) Goals scored; 8) Disciplinary points (1 point for each yellow card, 3 points for each red card)
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Shanghai Greenland Shenhua qualified for the 2017 AFC Champions League qualifying play-offs round as Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao and Jiangsu Suning are 2016 Chinese FA Cup finalists.

Results

Home \ Away	GZE	SSI	SD	BJ	HN	SGS	SJZ	CQ	JSS	CC	HZ	LN	TJ	GZF	YB	HBC
Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao		1–1	4–0	0–0	2–1	2–1	0–0	4–1	2–0	3–0	0–0	6–2	2–0	2–0	1–1	2–0
Shanghai SIPG	0–0		4–1	2–2	5–0	1–1	4–1	5–3	1–2	1–1	1–0	4–0	1–1	1–0	3–0	3–1
Shandong Luneng Taishan	0–2	0–0		0–2	0–0	0–1	4–0	1–1	2–1	1–1	4–1	3–2	2–3	2–3	3–1	1–0
Beijing Guoan	0–3	2–1	1–2		3–1	2–1	0–0	1–2	1–2	2–0	1–0	0–0	0–0	3–1	3–0	0–2
Henan Jianye	1–2	1–0	2–1	1–0		1–1	0–2	0–3	0–1	1–2	1–0	2–1	0–0	1–0	1–0	1–0
Shanghai Greenland Shenhua	2–1	2–1	0–0	0–0	2–2		3–1	2–2	3–2	3–0	4–0	2–1	2–2	5–1	1–1	2–0
Shijiazhuang Ever Bright	0–6	1–2	2–1	1–1	1–0	2–1		1–1	1–6	3–2	1–0	0–1	2–2	3–2	1–3	1–1
Chongqing Lifan	2–1	1–1	2–1	1–1	0–1	0–1	1–0		2–2	1–1	1–0	2–1	1–2	4–5	2–1	1–3
Jiangsu Suning	2–0	2–1	3–0	2–1	4–1	2–0	0–0	2–1		2–0	1–1	4–3	2–0	1–1	2–1	4–0
Changchun Yatai	1–2	1–3	0–0	2–1	1–0	1–0	1–0	3–0	1–2		0–1	0–1	4–4	3–1	1–0	0–1
Hangzhou Greentown	1–2	1–2	2–0	0–3	3–0	0–0	0–0	1–1	3–0	2–1		0–0	3–1	0–1	2–2	1–0
Liaoning Whowin	0–3	3–1	1–1	0–2	1–1	0–0	2–1	3–2	1–0	0–1	2–0		2–2	3–1	3–0	0–2
Tianjin TEDA	0–4	0–1	1–4	0–0	2–1	1–3	2–0	2–3	1–0	4–0	1–0	2–2		0–1	1–0	0–5
Guangzhou R&F	2–1	3–3	1–2	1–1	2–0	1–1	4–2	2–0	1–1	0–1	5–2	1–1	3–2		0–0	1–2
Yanbian Funde	1–1	1–1	2–1	1–0	1–2	2–0	2–0	1–1	3–0	2–0	2–4	4–1	1–2	3–1		3–2
Hebei China Fortune	0–3	0–2	2–1	0–1	4–3	2–2	1–1	1–1	1–1	2–1	0–0	0–0	1–0	0–2	1–0

Updated to match(es) played on 30 October 2016. Source: Results on the official website of the Chinese Super League (in Chinese)
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Goalscorers

Top scorers

Source:^[40][41]

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Ricardo Goulart	Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao	19
2	Alan		14
	Wu Lei	Shanghai SIPG
	Demba Ba	Shanghai Greenland Shenhua
	James Chamanga	Liaoning Whowin
6	Marcelo Moreno	Changchun Yatai	13
7	Alex Teixeira	Jiangsu Suning	11
	Elkeson	Shanghai SIPG
	Eran Zahavi	Guangzhou R&F
	Burak Yılmaz	Beijing Guoan

Hat-tricks

Player	For	Against	Result	Date	Ref
Marcelo Moreno	Changchun Yatai	Tianjin TEDA	4–4	3 April 2016	[42]
Demba Ba	Shanghai Greenland Shenhua	Shijiazhuang Ever Bright	3–1	3 April 2016	[43]
		Hangzhou Greentown	4–0	19 June 2016	[44]
Wu Lei	Shanghai SIPG	Guangzhou R&F	3–3	31 July 2016	[45]
Alex Teixeira	Jiangsu Suning	Shijiazhuang Ever Bright	6–1	11 September 2016	[46]
Eran Zahavi	Guangzhou R&F	Hangzhou Greentown	5–2	16 October 2016	[47]

League attendance

Pos	Team	Total	High	Low	Average	Change
1	Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao	673,243	48,956	30,765	44,883	−2.2%†
2	Jiangsu Suning	584,879	48,795	28,923	38,992	+45.2%†
3	Beijing Guoan	571,704	53,080	31,801	38,114	−7.0%†
4	Chongqing Lifan	542,663	48,855	26,876	36,178	−3.8%†
5	Shanghai SIPG	420,603	46,537	20,009	28,040	+6.3%†
6	Shanghai Greenland Shenhua	340,353	24,185	19,692	22,690	+16.3%†
7	Shijiazhuang Ever Bright	337,839	26,261	17,909	22,523	−10.2%†
8	Liaoning Whowin	337,592	48,157	10,279	22,506	+76.0%†
9	Tianjin TEDA	326,104	36,820	15,671	22,081	+12.3%†
10	Yanbian Funde	289,562	25,280	10,158	19,304	−21.2%† †
11	Shandong Luneng Taishan	283,987	31,531	12,655	18,932	−16.1%†
12	Hebei China Fortune	277,034	24,631	11,076	18,469	+135.8%† †
13	Henan Jianye	259,236	21,377	11,237	17,282	−14.5%†
14	Changchun Yatai	230,232	23,629	7,463	15,335	+3.2%†
15	Hangzhou Greentown	175,841	22,739	5,135	11,723	−6.7%†
16	Guangzhou R&F	147,463	14,596	6,898	9,831	+23.1%†
	League total	5,798,135	53,080	5,135	24,159	+8.9%†

Updated to games played on Feb. 11th, 2017
Source: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Notes:
^† Teams played previous season in CL1.

Awards

The awards of 2016 Chinese Super League were announced on 5 November 2016.^[48]

• Chinese Football Association Footballer of the Year: Ricardo Goulart (Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao)
• Chinese Super League Golden Boot Winner: Ricardo Goulart (Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao)
• 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 Young Player of the Year: Li Xiaoming (Henan Jianye)
• Chinese Football Association Manager of the Year: Luiz Felipe Scolari (Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao)
• Chinese Football Association Referee of the Year: Ma Ning
• Chinese Super League Fair Play Award: Shandong Luneng Taishan, Tianjin TEDA
• 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), Jiang Zhipeng (Guangzhou R&F)
  • MF Ricardo Goulart (Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao), Paulinho (Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao), Wu Xi (Jiangsu Suning), Wu Lei (Shanghai SIPG)
  • FW Gao Lin (Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao), Demba Ba (Shanghai Greenland Shenhua)