In the late afternoon of yesterday, the battle of the second round of the promotion and relegation playoffs of the 2021 season of the Chinese Super League broke out at the same time. As a result, two strong teams that were originally in the Chinese Super League - Dalian Ren and Qingdao - surprisingly slipped down to the Central League together, while four Central League 1 teams managed to get a ticket to the Chinese Super League. The Dalian team lost to Chengdu Rongcheng 0-1 at home, losing 1-2 on aggregate and being relegated; the Zhejiang team drew 0-0 with Qingdao at home and Qingdao lost 0-1 on aggregate, dropping to the Central League again.
The match between Dalian Ren and Chengdu Rongcheng at the Jiangyin Sports Center ended in a 0-1 defeat for Dalian Ren. It was in the 72nd minute that Chengdu Rongcheng's foreign aid player Romulo scored a brilliant goal to seal the victory. With the end of the match, Dalian Ren was officially relegated to the Central League, while Chengdu Rongcheng was successfully promoted to the Super League.
On the other side, Zhejiang team faced Qingdao at home. In the first round of the match, Zhejiang took a 1-0 lead. However, both teams failed to break the deadlock yesterday, and finally shook hands to make a draw. As a result, Zhejiang is back in the Chinese Super League, while Qingdao is facing relegation once again.
It is reported that due to the expansion of the Chinese Super League next season, in addition to the top two teams in the Central League, Wuhan Sanzhen and Meizhou Hakka, who were directly promoted, the third and fourth places in the Central League in yesterday's match also succeeded in being promoted to the Chinese Super League next season.
Looking back to 2014, Dalian Albion, the predecessor of Dalian Ren, was relegated from the Chinese Super League and only returned to the Super League in 2018 with the Central League title. However, the 2018 season saw the Dalian People once again fall into relegation trouble, and ultimately survived a thrilling 2-0 home win over Changchun Yatai in the final round.The 2019 season saw the team finish ninth, with a slight upturn, while the 2020 season saw the Dalian People rely on a two-legged elimination of Shijiazhuang Yongchang to successfully survive relegation. After a four-year career in the Chinese Super League, the Dalian People were thrilled to be relegated twice in their first three seasons, but couldn't hold on this year.
The Chinese Super League will expand to 18 teams next season, and as the northeastern town of Chinese soccer, only Changchun Yatai is left to survive in the Super League.
Upgrade your team
Wuhan Sanzhen, Meizhou Hakka, Zhejiang, Chengdu Rongcheng
relegated team
Dalian People, Qingdao
