2018 Chinese Super League
The 2018 Ping An Chinese Football Association Super League (Chinese: 2018中国平安中国足球协会超级联赛) was the 15th season since the establishment of the Chinese Super League. The league title sponsor was Ping An Insurance. Shanghai SIPG won their first top-tier league titles on 7 November 2018 after the 2–1 victory against Beijing Renhe, ending a historic run for Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao, who had won seven consecutive titles beginning with the 2011 season.
Season | 2018 |
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Dates | 2 March – 11 November 2018 |
Champions | Shanghai SIPG (1st title) |
Relegated | Changchun Yatai Guizhou Hengfeng |
AFC Champions League | Shanghai SIPG Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao Beijing Sinobo Guoan Shandong Luneng Taishan |
Matches played | 240 |
Goals scored | 768 (3.2 per match) |
Top goalscorer | Wu Lei (27 goals) |
Biggest home win | Shanghai SIPG 8–0 Dalian Yifang (3 March 2018) |
Biggest away win | Henan Jianye 0–5 Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao (15 August 2018) |
Highest scoring | Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao 4–5 Guangzhou R&F (2 March 2018) Beijing Sinobo Guoan 6–3 Hebei China Fortune (2 August 2018) Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao 4–5 Shanghai SIPG (3 November 2018) |
Longest winning run | 6 matches Shanghai SIPG |
Longest unbeaten run | 17 matches Beijing Sinobo Guoan |
Longest winless run | 11 matches Tianjin TEDA |
Longest losing run | 5 matches Chongqing Dangdai Lifan Guizhou Hengfeng |
Highest attendance | 56,544 Beijing Sinobo Guoan vs Shandong Luneng Taishan (5 August 2018) |
Lowest attendance | 5,651 Beijing Renhe vs Guizhou Hengfeng (14 April 2018) |
Average attendance | 24,053 |
← 2017 2019 → |
Policy regarding foreign players and U-23 domestic players continued to change in this season. At least one domestic player who is under the age of 23 (born on or after 1 January 1995) must be in the starting eleven, the same as in the 2017 season. However, two foreign-player policies have changed: (1) the number of foreign players on a club's roster has been reduced from five to four and (2) the total number of foreign players under contract with a club in a season has been reduced from seven to six. In addition, a new policy affecting both foreign players and U-23 domestic players has been introduced: The total number of foreign players appearing in matches must be no more than the total number of U-23 domestic players. Players from AFC countries no longer hold a special slot. But clubs can register one non-naturalized player from the Hong Kong Football Association, Macau Football Association or Chinese Taipei Football Association (except goalkeepers) as a native player. According to the Chinese FA, a non-naturalized player is a player who was first registered as a professional footballer in one of the three aforementioned football associations. For still more complexity concerning non-naturalized players, players from Hong Kong and Macau must be passport holders of the Hong Kong SAR or the Macau SAR, and players from Taiwan must be citizens of Taiwan. Policy of U-23 domestic players was relaxed in August for the 2018 Asian Games. It existed in name only from October when China U-25 training team was organized.