Since its launch in 1994, China's professional soccer league has gone through thick and thin, and despite the fact that the performance of the national team once slipped during the process of professionalization, the trend has become irreversible. Looking back at history, we may be able to realize that among the many mistakes, we still need to face the inevitability of the professionalization process.
In the blink of an eye, we have ushered in the 28th spring of the professionalization of Chinese soccer. In these 28 years of ups and downs, which team can be called the best in the soccer world? After the baptism of time, many teams have either been relegated or disbanded. Counting from 1994, only three teams have never suffered relegation in the top flight, and they are Beijing Guoan, Shanghai Shenhua, and Shandong Taishan (Shandong Luneng).
As for the AFC Cup winners, their gold content is relatively low. If we take only the top league championship as a measure, Guangzhou Evergrande led the way with 8 championships, followed by Dalian Wanda (Dalian Shide) with 7 A-League championships; Shandong Taishan won 4 championships, including 1 A-League championship and 3 Chinese Super League championships; Shanghai Shenhua had 2 A-League championships (of which the 2003 championship was canceled due to a fake soccer match), and Shenzhen Jianlibao, Changchun Yatai, Beijing Guoan, Shanghai SIPG, and Jiangsu Suning have each won 1 Chinese Super League title.
With this, only Dalian Wanda (Dalian Shide), Shandong Luneng and Guangzhou Evergrande are left to make it to the best candidate list. Dalian Wanda (Dalian Shide), with the brilliant achievement of seven top league titles and the merit of cultivating many international players, the Chinese men's soccer team in its glory days at least maintained at the quasi-first-class level in Asia and successfully advanced to the 2002 World Cup in Korea and Japan. And it was the Dalian team that contributed the most international players.
Shandong Luneng's strength is that it has never been relegated from the top league, and except for a few years, the team has always been in the title race. However, its disadvantages are also very obvious: only four top league titles, the AFC Champions League results are also relatively poor, especially in the face of South Korean teams, the "fear of Korea" problem is particularly prominent, and even by the fans jokingly referred to as the "tragedy team".
Guangzhou Evergrande is one of the most successful clubs in Chinese soccer in the last decade, and one of the most successful clubs in Asia in the last decade. 8 Chinese Super League titles and 2 AFC Champions League titles are achievements that may not be surpassed by any other team in a long time. However, Guangzhou Evergrande basically relies on purchasing domestic players, opening up the era of gold dollar soccer, but failing to develop youth players. In addition, some fans believe that due to the existence of Guangzhou Evergrande, the performance of China's men's national soccer team has been declining year by year, is this really the case?
After the 2002 World Cup, the Chinese men's soccer team entered a decade-long downturn. the 2006, 2010 and 2014 World Qualifiers, the team stopped in the group stage, and could not even participate in the Top 10 (eight-team tournament.) The 2007 and 2011 Asian Cups, the team also suffered elimination in the group stage.
However, it should be noted that the group stage of the 2014 World Preliminary Cup ended in 2011, when Guangzhou Evergrande had just been promoted to the Chinese Super League and had not yet established its own dynasty; and as the 2011 Asian Cup was held in Qatar in January, Guangzhou Evergrande was still struggling in the Premier League, and had not even played a single Premier League match yet. So it is not possible to blame Evergrande for the dismal results of these 5 tournaments.
Subsequently, the Chinese men's football team finally appeared in the 2018 Top 40, and finally finished fifth in the Top 12, without a chance to reach the World Cup.In the 2015 and 2019 Asian Cup, the Chinese men's football team both stopped in the eight. Therefore, to say that Guangzhou Evergrande has scourged the Chinese men's soccer team is a bit unfair. As for youth training, this is a long-term process, many Chinese clubs are reluctant to invest because they can't see the effect in the short term. The real strength of Evergrande's football school will be revealed after 2025, let's wait and see. Putting these accusations aside, the most successful club in Chinese soccer over the past 28 years is undoubtedly Guangzhou Evergrande.
