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The 2021 China League One (Chinese: 2021中国足球协会甲级联赛) 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.

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

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	40,000	2nd (Promotion play-offs loser)
Kunshan	Sergio Zarco Díaz	Kunshan	Kunshan Sports Centre Stadium	30,000	3rd
Chengdu Rongcheng	Seo Jung-won	Chengdu	Chengdu Longquanyi Football Stadium	27,000	4th
Meizhou Hakka	Milan Ristić	Wuhua	Huitang Stadium	30,000	5th
Guizhou	Yuan Yi	Guiyang	Guiyang Olympic Sports Center	51,636	7th
Suzhou Dongwu	Gary White	Suzhou	Suzhou Olympic Sports Centre	45,000	8th
Beijing BSU	Zhang Xu	Beijing	Olympic Sports Centre	36,228	9th
Shaanxi Chang'an Athletic	Feng Feng (caretaker)	Xi'an	Weinan Sports Center Stadium	32,000	10th
Sichuan Jiuniu	Li Yi	Chengdu	Chengdu Longquanyi Football Stadium	27,000	11th
Nantong Zhiyun	Cao Rui	Rugao	Rugao Olympic Sports Center	15,000	12th
Liaoning Shenyang Urban	Yu Ming	Shenyang	Shenyang Urban Construction University Stadium	12,000	14th
Heilongjiang Ice City	Duan Xin	Harbin	Harbin ICE Sports Center	50,000	15th (Relegation play-offs winner)
Jiangxi Beidamen	Huang Yong	Ruichang	Ruichang Sports Park Stadium	N/A	16th (Relegation play-offs winner)
Wuhan Three Towns	Pedro Morilla	Wuhan	Hankou Cultural Sports Centre	20,000	CL2, 1st
Zibo Cuju	Huang Hongyi	Zibo	Zibo Sports Center Stadium	45,000	CL2, 2nd
Xinjiang Tianshan Leopard	Polat Kutulk	Ürümqi	Xinjiang Sports Centre	50,000	18th (Relegation play-offs loser)
Nanjing City	Fulvio Pea	Nanjing	Nanjing Youth Olympic Sports Park	18,000	CL2, 3rd
Beijing BIT	Yu Fei	Beijing	BIT Eastern Athletic Field	5,000	CL2, 4th

Club locations

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date 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 2021
Xinjiang Tianshan Leopard	Qeriazdan Ashar	Mutual Consent	11 December 2021	18th	Polat Kutulk (caretaker)	11 December 2021

1. Morilla was initially caretaker manager, but was then appointed as manager until the end of the season on 9 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.

Team	Player 1	Player 2	Player 3	Hong Kong/Macau/ Taiwan Players	Naturalized Players	Former 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

• ^1 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

• During season: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored
• After season: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head points; 3) Head-to-head goal difference; 4) Head-to-head goals scored; 5) Goal difference; 6) Goals scored; 7) Disciplinary points (1 point for each yellow card, 3 points for each red card); 8) Draw
  (C) Champions; (D) Disqualified; (O) Play-off winners; (P) Promoted; (T) Qualified, but not yet for the particular phase indicated
  Notes:

1. ^ Zibo Cuju finished ahead of Guizhou on goal difference: Zibo Cuju 0–1 Guizhou, Guizhou 1–2 Zibo Cuju; Goal difference: Zibo Cuju -20 and Guizhou -30.

Results

Positions by round

To preserve chronological evolvements, any postponed matches are not included to the round at which they were originally scheduled, but added to the full round they were played immediately afterwards. For example, if a match is scheduled for round 7, but then played between rounds 8 and 9, it will be added to the standings for round 8.

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

As of 12 January 2022

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Nyasha Mushekwi	Zhejiang	24
2	Chisom Egbuchulam	Meizhou Hakka	20
	Kingsley Onuegbu	Shaanxi Chang'an Athletic	20
4	Moses Ogbu	Wuhan Three Towns	18
5	Raphaël Messi Bouli	Nanjing City	15
6	Liang Xueming	Meizhou Hakka	14
	Naldinho	Chengdu Rongcheng	14
	Donovan Ewolo	Heilongjiang Ice City	14
	Robert Tambe	Shaanxi Chang'an Athletic	14
	Zé Turbo	Nantong Zhiyun	14

Hat-tricks

Player	For	Against	Result	Date
Lonsana Doumbouya	Meizhou Hakka	Shaanxi Chang'an Athletic	3–2 (H)	24 May 2021
Moses Ogbu	Wuhan Three Towns	Suzhou Dongwu	4–0 (A)	10 June 2021
Xiang Baixu	Chengdu Rongcheng	Xinjiang Tianshan Leopard	7–0 (A)	23 July 2021
Nyasha Mushekwi	Zhejiang	Beijing BIT	3–0 (H)	15 August 2021
Raphaël Messi Bouli	Nanjing City	Liaoning Shenyang Urban	3–3 (A)	30 September 2021
Felipe	Chengdu Rongcheng	Guizhou	9–2 (A)	21 December 2021
Meng Junjie	Chengdu Rongcheng	Guizhou	9–2 (A)	21 December 2021

Notes

1. ^ The match was played behind closed doors due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

References

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External links

• China League One seasons
• 2021 in Chinese football leagues
• 2021 in Asian second tier association football leagues