Under the blow of multiple factors, last season's Chinese Super League fell into an unprecedented trough. Suning Club announced that it would stop operating just after winning the league championship, and the 8th champion of the Chinese Super League, Guangzhou Team (formerly Guangzhou Evergrande), was also on the verge of dissolution due to the financial situation of the parent company.
It can be said that the various problems that occurred in the Chinese Super League last season have become the laughing stock of foreign football practitioners. Despite this, there is still a club that has earned some face for the Chinese Super League, and he is Shandong Taishan, who won the double championship last season.
As last season's Chinese Super League champion, The Taishan team also entered the AFC Champions League of the new season without suspense. According to the latest point ranking of professional clubs in East Asia published by professional football website ECAR, Taishan has also become a popular team to win the AFC Champions League in the new season.
Due to last season's outstanding performances in league and FA Cup competitions, Tarzan has now entered the top three in the ranking of professional league clubs in East Asian countries.
In first and second place are clubs from the Korean K-League, they are: Ulsan Hyundai and Jeonbuk Hyundai. Both teams have won the AFC Champions League before.
Although Taishan (formerly Shandong Luneng) has performed poorly in the AFC Champions League in the past, there have been many big score losses. But after last season's restructuring, the Tarzan club has now taken on a new lease of life.
Last season, the Taishan team led by new coach Hao Wei showed great fighting ability, starting from the first stage of the league, they achieved a record of 13 unbeaten games, and finally won the Chinese Super League three rounds ahead of schedule.
In the FA Cup competition, they also advanced all the way to the final, and once again defeated Shanghai Harbor to win the FA Cup trophy.
Based on this record, Tarzan also scored a high score of 1060.9 in the latest East Asian club rankings, thus raising their ranking to third place.
If the Tarzans can continue to perform well in the AFC Champions League in the new season, their ranking can be further improved, and even occupy the top position. Because, their point difference with the two Korean clubs in the first and second places is not too big, only 30.2 and 14.8 points respectively.
Compared with the unlimited scenery of Taishan Club, the former Chinese Super League overlord Guangzhou team seems to be a bit lonely, and in this latest East Asian club ranking list, they have slipped to 5th place. Shanghai Haigang, which won the double Asian team last season, ranked 6th after Guangzhou.
In addition to taishan, Guangzhou and Haigang, other Chinese Super League clubs have not made it to the top 10 of this list. Veterans Beijing Guoan and Shanghai Shenhua finished in 13th and 18th places respectively due to their weak performances in the league last season.
Judging from the current environment of the Chinese Super League and the actual situation of the clubs, in addition to Taishan and Harbor, the ranking of other clubs is likely to decline further next season, which is also a true portrayal of the current Chinese Super League.
For most clubs in the Chinese Super League, how to solve the problem of unpaid wages as soon as possible and ensure the stability of the team next season is the focus of their work, and it does not matter how much they rank.
And the remaining 2 seedlings, Taishan and Harbor, whether they can save some face for the Chinese Super League also need to see how they perform in the AFC Champions League...