Preseason A number of changes occurred during the off season, notably some major changes to the teams. Inter Shanghai moved to
Xi'an and was renamed
Xi'an Chanba. Shanghai Zobon was renamed
Shanghai United. Beijing Hyundai, who did not renew their contract with
Hyundai, changed their team name back to their formal name,
Beijing Guoan. Shenzhen Jianlibao changed its team name to
Shenzhen Kingway after finding a new sponsor in
Kingway Brewery. There was also some speculation that
Liaoning would pull out from the league, and that the Chinese Football Association had prepared a schedule with only 14 teams should Liaoning have withdrawn. The biggest shock was the disbanding of
Sichuan First City in January, so the league will only have 15 teams at the start of the season, one short of the 16 teams planned.
Player transfers Shanghai Shenhua, who qualified for the
AFC Champions League, boost their squad with
Li Weifeng from the debt-ridden Shenzhen Jianlibao for 6.5 million RMB, the highest transfer fee a club has ever received that season. In addition, Shenhua bought over
Liu Yunfei from
Tianjin TEDA for 0.9 million and recalled defender
Du Wei from
Celtic. Desperately in need of money, Shenzhen was also forced to sell China's first choice goalkeeper,
Li Leilei to
Shandong Luneng for 5 million, former national striker
Yang Chen to the newly promoted
Xiamen Lanshi for 2 million and
Zhou Ting to Beijing Guoan for 3.5 million. Other notable transfers included
Wang Liang's 5 million move from Liaoning to Shandong,
An Qi's 4 million move from defending champions
Dalian Shide to Xiamen, and four players from Shandong (
An Shuai,
Zhou Yi,
Sun Bing, and
Cha Kejun) to
Qingdao Jonoon for 1 million each.
The season Shandong Luneng and newcomer
Changchun Yatai both had a good spell early on while defending champions Dalian Shide struggled early on. During the mid season, Changchun finally cannot kept up with the pace of the top league and gradually drops to fourth in the league. Meanwhile, a record 13 league win in a row saw Shandong gaining an unassailable lead at the top. With Shandong the clear winner, the interest in the second half of the season was the race to the second place and the fight against relegation. In the end,
Chongqing Lifan were relegated with two games to go while the race for second went all the way down to the wire before Shanghai Shenhua clinch the second spot with a last day win over Liaoning while Beijing Guoan slips. ==Personnel==