The 2021 China League One () is the 18th season of the China League One, the second tier of the Chinese football league pyramid, since its establishment in 2004.
Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic The 2021 China League One season was scheduled to start on 17 March 2021, but later was postponed.
On 1 April, the Chinese Football Association announced that the season would start on 24 April 2021 and the format of the season. The season was divided into 4 stages (10, 8, 8 and 8 rounds respectively). In the first stage, 18 teams were divided into 3 groups based on the hosts and last season's rankings. In the second, third and fourth stage, the teams in 3 groups will be switched to ensure that each team can play against each other 2 times.
Groups The draw for the stages took place on 1 April 2021. TeamDraw orderNo.GroupFirst S.Second S.Third S.Fourth S.Meizhou HakkaHost —A1ADGJZhejiang2nd, 2020 season1A2ADGJShaanxi Chang'an Athletic10th, 2020 season6A3AEHKSichuan Jiuniu11th, 2020 season7A4AEHKZibo Cuju2nd, CL2, 2020 season12A5AFILXinjiang Tianshan Leopard18th, 2020 season13A6AFILChengdu RongchengHost—B1BFHJKunshan3rd, 2020 season2B2BFHJBeijing BSU9th, 2020 season5B3BDIKNantong Zhiyun12th, 2020 season8B4BDIKJiangxi Beidamen16th, 2020 season11B5BEGLNanjing City3rd, CL2, 2020 season14B6BEGLWuhan Three TownsHost—C1CEIJGuizhou7th, 2020 season3C2CEIJSuzhou Dongwu8th, 2020 season4C3CFGKLiaoning Shenyang Urban14th, 2020 season9C4CFGKHeilongjiang Ice City15th, 2020 season10C5CDHLBeijing BIT4th, CL2, 2020 season15C6CDHL
Centralised venues Meizhou (Group A, D, G, J) Hengbei Football Town Field 9 Meixian Tsang Hin-chi Stadium Wuhua County Olympic Sports Centre Wuhua County Stadium Dalian (Group B, F, H) Dalian Sports Centre Stadium Field 3 Dalian Youth Football Training Base Main Stadium Jinzhou Stadium Chengdu (Group L) Chengdong Sports Park Stadium Chengdu Longquanyi Football Stadium Dujiangyan Phoenix Stadium Shuangliu Sports Centre Wuhan (Group C, E, I, K) Hankou Cultural Sports Centre Tazi Lake Football Base Field 1 Tazi Lake Football Base Field 3 Wuhan Five Rings Sports Center
Dates First stage (Round 1–10): 24 April – 10 June Second stage (Round 11–18): 11 July – 17 August Third stage (Round 19–26): 3 September – 5 October Fourth Stage (Round 27–34): 20 November – 22 December
Teams
Team changes
To League One Teams promoted from 2020 China League Two Wuhan Three Towns Zibo Cuju Nanjing City Beijing BIT
From League One Teams promoted to 2021 Chinese Super League Changchun Yatai
Dissolved entries Beijing Renhe Inner Mongolia Zhongyou Taizhou Yuanda
Name changes
Ahead of the 2021 season, the Chinese Football Association ordered all clubs to eliminate any corporate references in their names.
Chengdu Better City F.C. changed their name to Chengdu Rongcheng in January 2021. Guizhou Hengfeng F.C. changed their name to Guizhou in January 2021. Nanjing Fengfan F.C. changed their name to Nanjing City in January 2021. Jiangxi Liansheng F.C. changed their name to Jiangxi Beidamen in February 2021. Heilongjiang Lava Spring F.C. changed their name to Heilongjiang Ice City in February 2021. Zhejiang Energy Greentown F.C. changed their name to Zhejiang in February 2021.
Clubs
Stadiums and locations Team Head coach City Stadium Capacity 2020 season Zhejiang Jordi Vinyals Hangzhou Huzhou Olympic Sports Centre 40,0002nd (Promotion play-offs loser) Kunshan Sergio Zarco Díaz Kunshan Kunshan Sports Centre Stadium 30,0003rd Chengdu Rongcheng Seo Jung-won Chengdu Chengdu Longquanyi Football Stadium 27,0004th Meizhou Hakka Milan Ristić Wuhua Huitang Stadium 30,0005th Guizhou Yuan Yi Guiyang Guiyang Olympic Sports Center 51,6367th Suzhou Dongwu Gary White Suzhou Suzhou Olympic Sports Centre 45,0008th Beijing BSU Zhang Xu Beijing Olympic Sports Centre 36,2289th Shaanxi Chang'an Athletic Feng Feng (caretaker) Xi'an Weinan Sports Center Stadium 32,00010th Sichuan Jiuniu Li Yi Chengdu Chengdu Longquanyi Football Stadium 27,00011th Nantong Zhiyun Cao Rui Rugao Rugao Olympic Sports Center 15,00012th Liaoning Shenyang Urban Yu Ming Shenyang Shenyang Urban Construction University Stadium 12,00014th Heilongjiang Ice City Duan Xin Harbin Harbin ICE Sports Center 50,00015th (Relegation play-offs winner) Jiangxi Beidamen Huang Yong Ruichang Ruichang Sports Park Stadium N/A16th (Relegation play-offs winner) Wuhan Three Towns P Pedro Morilla Wuhan Hankou Cultural Sports Centre 20,000CL2, 1st Zibo Cuju P Huang Hongyi Zibo Zibo Sports Center Stadium 45,000CL2, 2nd Xinjiang Tianshan Leopard Polat Kutulk Ürümqi Xinjiang Sports Centre 50,00018th (Relegation play-offs loser) Nanjing City P Fulvio Pea Nanjing Nanjing Youth Olympic Sports Park 18,000CL2, 3rd Beijing BIT P Yu Fei Beijing BIT Eastern Athletic Field 5,000CL2, 4th
Club locations
Managerial changes TeamOutgoing managerManner of departureDate of vacancyPosition in tableIncoming managerDate of appointment Shaanxi Chang'an Athletic Kim Bong-gil Mutual consent 29 November 2020 Pre-season Óscar Céspedes 23 January 2021 Chengdu Rongcheng José Carlos Granero Mutual consent 7 December 2020 Seo Jung-won 12 December 2020 Zhejiang Zheng Xiong Mutual consent 31 December 2020 Jordi Vinyals 1 January 2021 Meizhou Hakka Marcelo Rospide Mutual consent 6 February 2021 Milan Ristić 6 February 2021 Zibo Cuju Hou Zhiqiang Mutual consent 19 February 2021 Park Chul 19 February 2021 Xinjiang Tianshan Leopard Polat Kutulk (caretaker) End of caretaker spell 30 March 2021 Pei Encai 30 March 2021 Nanjing City Tang Bo Mutual consent 18 April 2021 Fulvio Pea 18 April 2021 Beijing BSU Su Maozhen Mutual consent Zhang Xu Zibo Cuju Park Chul Mutual consent Huang Hongyi Wuhan Three Towns Albert Garcia Xicota Sacked 25 July 2021 5th Pedro Morilla 25 July 2021 Nantong Zhiyun Xie Hui Resigned 22 August 2021 7th Cao Rui 26 August 2021 Kunshan Gao Yao Sacked 16 September 2021 9th Sergio Zarco Díaz 16 September 2021 Xinjiang Tianshan Leopard Pei Encai Mutual consent 2 October 2021 17th Qeriazdan Ashar 2 October 2021 Shaanxi Chang'an Athletic Óscar Céspedes Sacked October 2021 7th Feng Feng (caretaker) October 2021 Guizhou Chen Mao Sacked 27 November 2021 9th Yuan Yi 27 November 2021Xinjiang Tianshan Leopard Qeriazdan Ashar Mutual Consent 11 December 202118th Polat Kutulk (caretaker) 11 December 2021
Foreign players The number of foreign players clubs can register over the course of the season is limited to four and the number of foreign players allowed on each team at any given time is limited to three. A maximum of three foreign players can be registered for each match with a maximum of two can be fielded at any time during the match. In addition, each club can register a Hong Kong, Macau, or Taiwan player of Chinese descent (excluding goalkeepers), provided that he registered as a professional footballer in one of those three association for the first time, as a native player. Players name in bold indicates the player is registered during the mid-season transfer window.
TeamPlayer 1Player 2Player 3Hong Kong/Macau/Taiwan PlayersNaturalized PlayersFormer Players Beijing BIT Beijing BSU Wen Chih-hao Chengdu Rongcheng Felipe Naldinho Rômulo Johnathan Guizhou Jahmir Hyka Stefan Mihajlović Sérgio Mota Heilongjiang Ice City Donovan Ewolo Rashid Abubakar Evans Etti Thievy Bifouma Jiangxi Beidamen Vasil Shkurti Éder Andy Russell Magno Cruz Kunshan Bruno Pires Hildeberto Pereira → Xiao Taotao Liaoning Shenyang Urban Meizhou Hakka Igor Sartori Chisom Egbuchulam Vas Nuñez Lonsana Doumbouya Nanjing City Albi Alla Raphaël Messi Bouli Ritus Krjauklis Nantong Zhiyun Mychell Chagas Abdou Razack Traoré Zé Turbo Li Ngai Hoi → David Wang→ Ming-yang Yang Shaanxi Chang'an Athletic Raoul Loé Robert Tambe Kingsley Onuegbu Wang Chien-ming Sichuan Jiuniu Pierce Waring Mohamed Yattara Nemanja Vidić → Xia Dalong Suzhou Dongwu Junior Kabananga Wuhan Three Towns Ademilson Marcão Moses Ogbu Yaki Yen Jadson Xinjiang Tianshan Leopard Nemanja Spasojević Uroš Tomović Zhejiang Matheus Franko Andrijašević Nyasha Mushekwi Leung Nok Hang Nikola Đurđić Zibo Cuju Albi Alla João Silva For Hong Kong, Macau, or Taiwanese players, if they are non-naturalized and were registered as professional footballers in Hong Kong's, Macau's, or Chinese Taipei's football association for the first time, they are recognized as native players. Otherwise they are recognized as foreign players.
League table
Results
Positions by round
Results by match played
Promotion play-offs
Zhejiang and Chengdu Rongcheng will play the bottom two teams in the 2021 Chinese Super League (7th and 8th in the Relegation stage) in two-legged playoffs.
Relegation play-offs Overview
Matches
2–2 on aggregate. Qingdao Youth Island won 5–4 on penalties.
Guangxi Pingguo Haliao won 1–0 on aggregate.
Statistics Top scorers
Rank Player Club Goals1 Nyasha MushekwiZhejiang2 Chisom EgbuchulamMeizhou Hakka Kingsley OnuegbuShaanxi Chang'an Athletic4 Moses OgbuWuhan Three Towns5 Raphaël Messi BouliNanjing City6 Liang XuemingMeizhou Hakka NaldinhoChengdu Rongcheng Donovan Ewolo Heilongjiang Ice City Robert TambeShaanxi Chang'an Athletic Zé Turbo Nantong Zhiyun
Hat-tricks Player For Against Result Date Lonsana Doumbouya Meizhou Hakka Shaanxi Chang'an Athletic 3–2 (H) Moses Ogbu Wuhan Three Towns Suzhou Dongwu 4–0 (A) Xiang Baixu Chengdu Rongcheng Xinjiang Tianshan Leopard 7–0 (A) Nyasha Mushekwi Zhejiang Beijing BIT 3–0 (H) Raphaël Messi Bouli Nanjing City Liaoning Shenyang Urban 3–3 (A) Felipe Chengdu Rongcheng Guizhou 9–2 (A) Meng Junjie Chengdu Rongcheng Guizhou 9–2 (A)
Notes
References
External links