The 2022 season was Beijing Guoan F.C.'s 58th season in football competition and the club's 19th consecutive season in the Chinese Super League since the league's founding in the 2004. It was the team's 32nd consecutive season in the top flight of Chinese football. It covered a period from 5 January 2022 to 31 December 2022.
Summary
Pre-season A whole host of action came in the first month of the pre-season. On 8 January 2022, Beijing Guoan parted ways with head coach Slaven Bilić after one season. On 14 January 2022, Xie Feng, a club legend and three-time interim coach for Guoan, was named as the new head coach. Wang Ziming and Yu Yang signed contract extensions until the end of 2025 and 2022 respectively on 29 January. The next day, Guoan announced the return of Zhang Chengdong.
In early February, Guoan began its winter training camp in Kunming with the goal of improving player fitness. The team played a training match against Beijing Sports University on 26 February with Guoan winning 6–1. Wang Ziming and Liu Guobo each scored a double, with Li Boxi and Liang Shaowen adding to Guoan's tally. March 8, Guoan players relocated to Shanghai to continue their preseason preparation, but the training camp was disrupted after Shanghai suffered an intense wave of COVID-19 outbreak. The team scrambled and relocated to Haikou to continue their training on March 18, which lasted until March 31. On March 28 during an interview with the Beijing-based television network BTV, manager Xie Feng confirmed the signing of defender Kang Sang-Woo, midfielder Samir Memišević and winger Samuel Adegbenro, and that the team hopes to bring in another attacker and midfielder respectively before the end of the transfer window. The other attacker turned on to be Marko Dabro as the club officially announced his transfer to Guoan along with the other aforementioned players on 15 and 16 April respectively. Later on 22 April, Guoan announced the singing of young striker Tian Yuda. He was given the number 29 shirt.
Guoan traveled to Meizhou, the city in which Guoan's CSL games would be played in tournament style, and began their last pre-season training camp on 13 May. On 23 May, CSL announced that its 2022 season would officially commence on 3 June.
June
The first game of the season came on 5 June against Cangzhou Mighty Lions. The team lined up with a new 3-5-2 system featuring a back line composed of academy graduate Liang Shaowen, midfielder-as-center-back Zhang Chengdong and captain Yu Dabao. New transfers Samir Memišević, Samuel Adegbenro, Kang Sang-woo also featured in the starting line-up. In the first half, both team traded chances with Guoan seemingly the better team earning numerous corners. However, an attacking misadventure from Liang Shaowen allowed Cangzhou players to poach the ball away, which led to a quick counter that saw Guoan concede its first in the season 43 minutes into the game. Trading sides, Guoan created a great chance just 20 seconds after the break with Gao Tianyi testing the opposition keeper with a close range slice in the box. In the 51st minute, another quick Cangzhou counter broke through Guoan's lines, forcing Zhang Chengdong into a last-ditch tackle attempt that saw him sent off. Chances were few and far between with Guoan a man down. To make matters worse, Adegbenro was ruled by VAR to have committed a foul while fighting for a loose ball in the Guoan box in the 74th minute, giving away a penalty that put Guoan 0–2 behind. Cangzhou saw one of its players sent off in the 87th minute equalizing the number of players for both teams, and Yu Dabao took advantage of a corner chaos to pull one back for Guoan in the 92nd minute, but it was too little and too late. Guoan ended the match with a 1–2 loss and start the season with a defeat for a consecutive season.
Guoan's second game of the season took place on 8 June against Chengdu Rongcheng. The game proved to be tough for both teams due to the heavy rain and generated a fair share of controversies. All goals were scored directly from or indirectly as a result of set pieces. Guoan took the lead with Jin Pengxiang scoring in the 11th minute after firing a shot from outside the box as the opposition struggled to clear Adegbenro's attempt after a free kick chaos. Chengdu, however, forced a Hou Sen mistake and own goal in the 25th as the ball slipped out of his hand while he tried to claim the ball in the air. Memišević put Guoan in the lead as his header from a Zhang Xizhe free kick hit the back of Chengdu's goalie and ended up in the back of the neck in the 31st. In the 41st minute, Chengdu's Abduhamit Abdugheni was sent off for head-butting Zhang Yuning after a foul, and Zhang scored a direct free kick just 4 minute later to put Guoan up 3–1. Just at the dead of the first half, Guoan conceded another to Chengdu, entering half time 3–2. In the second half, neither team managed to score, but Chengdu collected two more red cards in the 71st and 90th minute respectively, ending the game with 8 players. Another controversy from the game emerged as the referee Li Zheng blew the final whistle only 3 minutes into the 5-minute added time and had to call the team back after the players began walking off the field. The game ended as a 2–3 Guoan victory, giving the team its first win of the season.
Guoan's CSL campaign continued on 11 June against Tianjin Jinmen Tiger. While Tianjin threatened Guoan's goal multiple times, it was the new arrival and late substitute Marko Dabro who latched on to a Zhang Yuning cross and sent the ball past Tianjin's keeper in the 86th minute for a debut goal. The game ended 1–0 for Guoan, extending the win streak to two games and lifting the team up to 6th place after 3 matchdays. Despite the victory, long-time sportswriter Zhao Yu warned against optimism, stating that the win was very difficult and that the team lack midfield presence when attacking.
Guoan played against the newly promoted Meizhou Hakka on 17 June. In the 9th minute, Zhang Yuning put Guoan ahead by striking the ball clean into the net after Memišević touched it to Zhang in a free kick. In the 13th minute, however, Jin Pengxiang was on the receiving end of a bad foul and had to be stretchered off the field. Despite the setback, Guoan scored again in the 20th minute; it was again Zhang Yuning who tapped into the net a cross after a nice series of moves in the penalty area by youngster Liu Guobo. The team's lead got cut in half just three minutes later, but the game tipped in Guoan's favor in the 40th minute when Meizhou player Yang Chaosheng was shown a second yellow for shoving Chi Zhongguo. Yet, the game did not get easier for Guoan in the second half as Meizhou piled on the pressure by substituting on attacking players, which overwhelmed Guoan's defense despite having a one-man advantage. Guoan conceded in the 65th minute from a header at the end of a corner cross and failed to generate much opportunities in the latter 45 minutes of the game, ending the game in a 2–2 draw that saw the team slip to 7th place.
On 21 June, Guoan faced off against Shenzhen in the CSL. Zhang Yuning, continuing his good run of forms, helped Guoan to a 1–0 lead by heading in a Zhang Xizhe corner to the far side of the goal. For the rest of the first half, Shenzhen tried their luck from outside the box, but Guoan's defense did well to block the shots. Switching sides, Guoan grabbed another goal in the 52nd minute through Yu Dabao, who tapped the ball into the net after Zhang Xizhe sent in a cross from the left wing and Memišević flicked the ball on while falling to the ground. Memišević orchestrated Guoan's next goal as well as he sent a cross-field long ball to a surging Wang Gang, who lifted the ball across the goal for another Zhang Yuning header. Shenzhen pulled one back through a direct free kick, but Wang Ziming helped Guoan seal the game by finishing off a rebound from a Memišević shot in the 88th minute. The game, finished as a 4–1 Guoan victory, proved to be one of the best yet in the season and helped the team climb up to 5th place in the table, just three points behind the leader. Zhang Yuning also rose to the top of the golden boot race with 5 goals after 5 matchdays with the media hailing him as the "best Chinese center forward" at the moment. Later, Zhang Yuning was named the Player of the Round by the league.
On 24 June, the club announced midfielder Li Ke has temporarily left the team to return to London and receive his third surgery in the past 18 months to address the popliteal artery entrapment syndrome his legs are suffering from. Li Ke has not capped for Guoan since May 2021 due to injuries. The next day, Guoan played against Cangzhou in matchday 6 of the CSL. In the 7th minute, Guoan conceded first as a missed Kang Sang-woo interception led to a goal for Cangzhou. A controversy arose in the 34th minute as the ball hit one of Cangzhou's defenders in the box from a Guoan corner, but the referee refused to give the penalty kick after VAR review. A chance finally came for Guoan in the 83rd minute as the referee awarded a penalty for Guoan after Liu Huan was bodied in the opposition box. Zhang Yuning stepped up and sent the ball past the keeper, tying the game with his 6th goal of the season. Guoan would end the game in a 1–1 draw.
Guoan played Chengdu Rongcheng on 30 June. Manager Xie Feng rotated the team with Kang Sang-woo and Yu Dabao starting the game on the sidelines. After two competitive halves in which Guoan looked worse than their opponents both in attack and in defense, the game ended in a goalless draw. Despite maintaining 5th place with the tie, Guoan is now 7 points behind league leader Wuhan Three Towns after 7 matchdays.
July On 3 July, Guoan faced off against Tianjin Jinmen Tigers. Zhang Yuning headed a Piao Cheng free kick into the net in the second minute of the game, but the goal was overruled as offside and disallowed after VAR review. Attacks came from both sides for the remainder of the first half, but nothing materialized for either team. Four minutes into the second half, successful pressure from Guoan in the opposition half allowed Kang Sang-woo to dig in a cross from the left flank, which Memišević headed into the net. 20 minutes later, a Nebijan Muhmet cross from a free kick on the right was again headed into the net by Memišević, doubling Guoan's lead. Tianjin pulled a goal back in the 76th minute with a shot from outside the box, but Guoan was able to maintain its lead to the end, winning the match 1–2 and remain in 5th place. Both manager Xie Feng and assistant manager Cao Xiandong were red-carded in the 80th minute for protesting a call from the referee. Memišević was later named one of the two Best Players of the Round by the league.
The Chinese FA announced on 6 July that the second phase of this year's CSL is expected to return to the regular home-and-away game format for the rest of the competition, starting with matchday 11 in August through matchday 34 in December. Guoan's home stadium remains unclear at the moment given the ongoing renovation at the Workers' Stadium, and whether the municipal government will relax COVID-19-related travel restrictions to accommodate games in Beijing is uncertain.
Guoan's matchday 10 game against Meizhou Hakka came on 7 July. In the first half, a Meizhou goal along with goals from Piao Cheng and Zhang Yuning were all disallowed. In the second half, both teams traded chances but none materialized as the game ended in a 0–0 draw and extending Guoan's unbeaten run to 8 games. Zhang Yuning was injured in the 79th minute of the game and left the field with later reports confirming that he dislocated his shoulder and sustained other injuries in the shoulder area. He left the team and returned to Beijing for further treatment.