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Chinese Super League
Season	2006
Champions	Shandong Luneng
Relegated	Chongqing Lifan
AFC Champions League	Shandong Luneng; Shanghai Shenhua;
A3 Champions Cup	Shandong Luneng; Shanghai Shenhua;
Matches played	210
Goals scored	496 (2.36 per match)
Top goalscorer	Li Jinyu (Shandong Luneng), 26 goals
Average attendance	10,611
	← 2005 2007 →

The 2006 Chinese Super League was the third season since the establishment of the Chinese Football Association Super League (中国足球协会超级联赛 or 中超), also known as Chinese Super League, the thirteen season of professional association football league and the 45th top-tier league season in China. The premier football league in China under the auspices of the Chinese Football Association, the season started on March 11, 2006 and ended on October 22. Initially, it was planned that there would be two teams relegated at the end of the season, however this was changed to one when Sichuan First City folded before the start of the season.

Promotion and relegation

Teams promoted from 2005 China League One

Teams relegated after end of 2005 Chinese Super League

None

Preseason

A number of changes occurred during the off season, notably some major changes to the teams. Inter Shanghai was 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the league, and that the Chinese Football Association had prepared a schedule with only 14 teams should Liaoning have withdrawn.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 this season. In additional, 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 Hyundai 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.

Personnel

Team	Manager
Beijing Guoan	Shen Xiangfu
Changchun Yatai	Arie Schans
Chongqing Lifan	Stjepan Čordaš
Dalian Shide	Vladimir Petrović
Liaoning	Tang Yaodong
Qingdao Jonoon	Yin Tiesheng
Shandong Luneng	Ljubiša Tumbaković
Shanghai Shenhua	Wu Jingui
Shanghai United	Osvaldo Giménez
Shenyang Ginde	Martin Koopman
Shenzhen Kingway	Xie Feng
Tianjin TEDA	Liu Chunming
Wuhan Optics Valley	Pei Encai
Xi'an Chanba	Cheng Yaodong
Xiamen Lanshi	Gao Hongbo

Foreign players

Club	Player 1	Player 2	Player 3	Former players
Beijing Guoan	Javier Musa	Milton Coimbra	Krisztián Kenesei
Changchun Yatai	Elvis Scott	Samuel Caballero	Marian Aliuță	Víctor Mena Corneliu Papură
Chongqing Lifan	Ortega Deniran	Pavle Delibašić		Darko Čordaš Velibor Kopunović
Dalian Shide	Zoran Janković			Miodrag Pantelić
Liaoning	Clément Lebe	Viktor Brovchenko
Qingdao Jonoon	Fabiano	Despot Višković	Velibor Kopunović	Dejan Sarić
Shandong Luneng	Predrag Pažin	Aleksandar Živković	Igor Gluščević	Branimir Petrović
Shanghai Shenhua	Carsten Jancker	Luis Ramírez	Ivan Jovanović	Goran Trobok
Shanghai United	Aderaldo	Tiago Honório	Saúl Martínez	Jonas Renato Ribas
Shenyang Ginde	Alex Alves	Blaž Puc		Taílson Ousmane Bangoura
Shenzhen Kingway	Bogdan Zając	Marek Zając		Ozeias Daniel Wansi
Tianjin TEDA	Marcos Aurélio	Benedict Akwuegbu	Marko Zorić	Henry Makinwa
Wuhan Optics Valley	Roberto Demus	Bruno Lança	Carlos Eduardo	Rafael Jaques
Xi'an Chanba	Vicente	Ivan Bulat	Kwame Ayew
Xiamen Lanshi	Quinzinho	Gabriel Melkam	Branko Jelić	Prince Ikpe Ekong

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.

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Shandong Luneng (C)	28	22	3	3	74	26	+48	69	Qualification for AFC Champions League
2	Shanghai Shenhua	28	14	10	4	37	19	+18	52	Qualification for AFC Champions League
3	Beijing Guoan	28	13	10	5	27	16	+11	49
4	Changchun Yatai	28	13	7	8	41	26	+15	46
5	Dalian Shide	28	13	6	9	43	29	+14	45
6	Tianjin TEDA	28	10	10	8	40	38	+2	40
7	Shanghai United	28	9	12	7	32	25	+7	39
8	Xiamen Lanshi	28	9	11	8	28	27	+1	38
9	Xi'an Chanba	28	8	12	8	33	34	−1	36
10	Wuhan Optics Valley	28	8	7	13	28	42	−14	31
11	Shenzhen Kingway	28	8	6	14	22	42	−20	30
12	Liaoning	28	6	8	14	24	42	−18	26
13	Shenyang Ginde	28	6	8	14	22	43	−21	26
14	Qingdao Jonoon	28	6	7	15	25	36	−11	25
15	Chongqing Lifan (R)	28	3	7	18	20	51	−31	16	Relegation to League One

Source: League Table 2006
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated

Top scorers

Rank	Scorer	Club	Goals
1	Li Jinyu	Shandong Luneng	26
2	Zheng Zhi	Shandong Luneng	21
3	Luis Ramírez	Shanghai Shenhua	13
4	Vicente	Xi'an Chanba	11
5	Zoran Janković	Dalian Shide	10
	Han Peng	Shandong Luneng
	Zou Yougen	Xiamen Lanshi

Attendances

League

Total attendance: 2,228,300 ^[1]
Average attendance: 10,611

Clubs

Football club	Average attendance
Shandong Luneng	30,679
Tianjin TEDA	18,071
Xi'an Chanba	17,286
Beijing Guoan	13,571
Shanghai Shenhua	12,786
Wuhan Optics Valley	10,500
Shenzhen Kingway	10,071
Changchun Yatai	8,607
Xiamen Lanshi	8,071
Liaoning	6,929
Chongqing Lifan	6,536
Qingdao Jonoon	6,071
Dalian Shide	5,043
Shenyang Ginde	2,750
Shanghai United	2,193