Beijing Guoan and Chengdu Rongcheng, the promoted team, played a fierce match in Meizhou, which was undoubtedly an exciting game. Shortly after the start, Guoan goalkeeper Housen suffered a scare when he accidentally slipped while catching an overhead kick, causing the ball to fly impartially into his own goal. Toward the end of the first half, Abdu Hemiti fouled and argued with Zhang Yuning, and then he head-butted him, and the referee immediately sent him off with a red card. In the second half, Chengdu Rongcheng received another red card and faced Guoan with an 8-man squad, eventually losing 2-3. In a shocking turn of events, Chengdu Rongcheng's coaching staff expressed strong dissatisfaction when the referee, Li Zheng, blew the final whistle after only three minutes of extra time, which should have been five minutes. The referee then signaled for the players to return to the field, and the game was officially over after another minute of play.
In the fourth round of the league, in the derby match between Wuhan Changjiang and Wuhan Sanzhen, the goal scored by Changjiang striker Forbes was canceled due to a small scuffle between the two players, a scene reminiscent of the canceled call on the goal that sparked a huge controversy in the 2020 season match between Guoan and Taishan. Referee Wang Zhe, after watching a VAR replay, decided that Hu Rentian had committed a foul on Renhang and the goal was null and void.
Also in the fourth round of the league, Guangzhou faced Shanghai Seaport, who beat Guangzhou 1-0 with a goal from newcomer Feng Jin. However, there was another controversy at the end of the game: in the 87th minute, Guangzhou's corner kick was cleared out of the penalty area by a Harbour player. U23 international Liu Zhurun took the ball and launched a fast counter-attack, once shaking off Guangzhou's Hou Yu's defense, but the referee suddenly blew the whistle! This was an obvious opportunity to score. However, the referee did not follow the principle of attacking favor, and directly stopped the game and showed a yellow card to Hou Yu, a move that made Liu Zhurun so angry that he kicked the ball into the air on the spot.
