The 2021 season was Beijing Guoan F.C.'s 57th season in football competition and the club's 18th consecutive season in the Chinese Super League since the league's founding in the 2004. It was the team's 31st consecutive season in the top flight of Chinese football. It covered a period from 1 January 2021 to 4 January 2022.
Summary
Pre-season On 2 January, Toni Šunjić completed his transfer to Henan Jianye, the team he played for on loan after he was signed by Guoan in the summer of 2020. He did not cap for Guoan.
On 6 January, Guoan announced Slaven Bilić, former manager of the Croatia national team, West Ham United and West Bromwich Albion as the team's new manager. The team's contract with former manager Bruno Génésio lapsed at the end of the last season and was not renewed.
22 January saw Kim Min-Jae arrive in Guangzhou to begin his COVID-19 quarantine according to Chinese government regulations amid transfer rumors. He was the first foreign player to return ahead of the season. Bilić and his coaching staff landed in Hangzhou on 25 January for quarantine. Guoan's first training camp for the season began on 25 January in Kunming with only 11 first team players as many foreign players have yet to return or were undergoing quarantine according to Chinese regulations, and 7 first team members were training with the Chinese national team in Haikou. Chinese coaching staff led the training camp alongside reserve team players. The training camp ended on 9 February, and the team will regroup in Haikou for the next training camp after their lunar new year break.
On 8 February, the Asian Football Confederation announced that fellow CSL club Shandong Taishan was banned from this season's AFC Champions League due to finance-related violations. Guoan therefore no longer need to participate in the play-off round as it is set to take Shandong's spot in the group stage proper.
Guoan announced the singing of Cao Yongjing from Beijing Renhe on 9 February. He chose the number 37 shirt.
15 February saw Guoan regroup for its second winter training camp in Haikou. Players previously training with the Chinese national team have returned, and Bilić, along with his coaching staff, have completed the required quarantine and led the training sessions.
On 16 February, Guoan announced the signing of Gao Tianyi from Jiangsu. He was given the number 15 shirt. Guoan announced the transfer of Zhang Yu to Changchun Yatai on 25 February. Further, Dongda He joined from the U23 team at Wolverhampton Wanderers on 26 February. He will be wearing number 28.
Bakambu returned to China on 2 March while the return date of Augusto, Viera and Fernando remains uncertain. On 5 March, Bakambu announced via his personal social media accounts that he has tested for COVID-19. Guoan released a statement later, confirming that Bakambu is without symptoms and currently receiving treatment.
The team concluded its Hainan training camp on 5 March, having won three friendlies against teams training locally. Head coach Bilić, recounting the training camp, said that he was satisfied with "the weather, the pitch, the training facility as well as the players' mentality." "We have a bright future," commented Bilić on the talent of the Guoan reserve team that trained with the first team.
The team's third training camp began in Shanghai on 11 March and concluded on 25 March. The fourth training camp and the last before the beginning of the season on 20 April began on 30 March. Bakambu, fully recovered, joined the training along with Viera, who returned to China mid-March and completed his quarantine.
The Chinese FA announced the competition format for this season's Chinese Super League on 1 April. There will be three stages, with the first stage seeing participating teams divided into two groups competing in Guangzhou and Suzhou respectively. Guoan is placed into group B alongside Shanghai Port, Shanghai Shenhua and Wuhan amongst other teams and will compete in Suzhou.
On 10 April, Guoan announced the loan of Lucas Souza from Changchun Yatai and the singing of Bai Yang.
Name change On 14 December 2020, the Chinese Football Association officially mandated that all clubs must remove references to investors and the companies that own them in their name and instead adopt "neutral" names before the beginning of the 2021 season. Under this regulation, Guoan need to drop Sinobo, a Chinese real estate investment company and the club's majority owner, from its name. Further, the club must change its name, Guoan, as CITIC Guoan Group still owns partial share in the club.
The club, its owners, and its fans have objected the name change as all parties feel the name "Guoan" is part of the club's identity. All clubs must submit their new name to the Chinese FA for approval by 31 December 2020; instead of submitting a new name, Guoan submitted a petition to delay name change on the grounds that Sinobo Group is negotiating a deal to purchase the club's remaining shares from CITIC Guoan. If the purchase is completed, the name "Guoan" will no longer directly reference the club's owner, which may avert the need for a new club name.
On 21 January, reports emerged that the Chinese FA demanded Guoan to show concrete proof of the purchase negotiation process by 31 January, otherwise the club must adopt a different name for the upcoming season. Further difficulties during the purchase negotiations process was reported on 26 January. The report claims that due to CITIC being a Chinese state-owned enterprise, ownership transfer requires a more complicated process, and that the parties involved could not agree over the transaction cost.
On 29 January, the China Beijing Equity Exchange published a notice outlining the club's intended ownership transfer from CITIC to Sinobo for ¥1, successfully meeting Chinese FA's 31 January deadline. However, reports emerged on 3 February that the ownership transfer would require Sinobo to shoulder an additional debt of ¥600 million, stalling the transfer and increasingly the likelihood that the club would have to take up a new name.
During a television interview with CCTV reporter Bai Yansong on 19 March, the president of Chinese FA Chen Xuyuan stated that it is likely for Guoan to keep its name provided the ownership transfer occurs without incident.
On 25 March, the club's name changed from "Beijing Sinobo Guoan" to "Beijing Guoan" according to official company registration database, signaling a high likelihood that the name "Guoan" is compliant with relevant Chinese FA regulations and hence marked an end of the name change saga.
The ownership transfer process was completed on 21 June according to an official club statement, making Sinobo Group the sole owner of the club. The club name "Guoan" is kept.
April On 23 April, Guoan suffered a resounding defeat against Shanghai Shenhua in the season opener. Despite having 67% possession, the team struggled against taller opposition strikers, and managed only 6 shots in comparison to Shenhua's 14. After a first half with highlights from both sides, Shenhua's Moreno broke the deadlock on the 59th minute with a header at the end of a corner situation, which Guoan defended haphazardly throughout the game. Wu Xi added another for Shenhua in the 65th with a strike at the edge of the penalty area. In the 91st minute, Li Ke advanced the ball up the pitch from the right flank before threading it across the opposition penalty area; Li Lei slipped the ball passed Shenhua's keeper for a consolation goal. The game ended as a 2–1 loss for Guoan.
Guoan suffered a 3–1 defeat against Shanghai Port on Matchday 2 on 28 April. Head coach Bilić attempted a new tactic by selecting a three-defender backline with the hopes of increasing aggression and allowing for more players to join the attack, but the experiment failed as Shanghai Port's Lopes scored a quickfire double inside the first four minutes of the game. Guoan pulled a goal back in the 21st minute with a quick counter attack that originated from a Gao Tianyi and ended with Viera sliding the ball past Port's keeper off a Bakambu through ball assist. Cao Yongjing came on for Li Lei at the beginning of the second half as Guoan continued to push for a second goal, and Souza made his debut for the team in the 78th minute replacing injured defender Kim Min-Jae. However, Guoan's positive momentum was undone in the 80th minute as Port's Lü Wenjun scored a header. With two consecutive losses, Guoan suffered its worst start of any CSL campaign since the league's conception. Guoan has not lost two games in a row at the start of the season since 2000, when the team played in the Chinese Jia-A League under head coach Milovan Đorić, who was fired after losing the opening three games.
May Guoan's first victory of the season came when they defeated Dalian Pro 2–0 on 4 May on Matchday 3. First half saw action from both sides but neither were able to score a goal. Viera was substituted for injury in the 39th minute and was sent to a local hospital at halftime for evaluation from what appeared to be a serious knee injury. Guoan grabbed the lead in the 52nd minute with Zhang Xizhe powering a Zhang Yuning cross from the left flank into the box past the opposition keeper. Two minutes later, Zhang Xizhe scored an almost identical goal, except with his head this time, from a similar movement. Li Lei provided the assist. The second yellow card for opposition player Tong Lei in the 73rd minute sealed the win for Guoan. Viera was diagnosed with right knee MCL and meniscus injury the next day and is expected to miss several games.
Kim Min-jae temporarily left the team on 9 May due to a family member suffering from serious health problem. Adding to the misfortune, Bilić reported on the same day during the pre-match press conference against Wuhan that defender Yu Yang suffered a rib fracture and will be sidelined for extended periods.
The injury-riddled Guoan played Wuhan on Matchday 4 on 10 May. Zhang Yuning drew an early penalty in the 3rd minute which Bakambu prompted converted. The two combined again in the 46th minute to score Guoan's second goal of the game with Bakambu following through a deflected shot from Zhang. Despite failing to won a single corner, Guoan held the 0–2 lead to the end of the game. The match also marked Li Lei's 100th appearance for the club. With multiple players receiving call-ups from the Chinese national team, the Matchday 5 game against Hebei is postponed until a later date, giving the team a 40-day break. AFC also announced on the same day that this season's Champions League group stage games for group H and I, which includes Guoan, will be played in Uzbekistan between 25 June and 11 July.
The team regrouped on 20 May in Beijing and began preparation for the next stage of CSL competitions. Piao Cheng joined the whole team in training for the first time after recovering from a torn ACL suffered on 1 August 2020.
June Due to complications regarding China's COVID-19 quarantine rules for foreigners and COVID cases discovered within the Maldives and Syrian national teams, the venue for China's remaining second round matches in the 2022 World Cup Asian qualification was moved from China to the UAE. The travel and the subsequent mandatory quarantine requirements upon return meant that it was extremely unlikely for the CSL, scheduled to resume on 21 June, to proceed as planned after the national team's game on 15 June. Although no official announcement has been made, the absence of CSL matches on their planned dates signifies that the league is currently delayed.