The 2018 Ping An Chinese Football Association Super League (Chinese: 2018中国平安中国足球协会超级联赛) was the 15th season since the establishment of the Chinese Super League.[1] The league title sponsor was Ping An Insurance.[2][3] Shanghai SIPG won their first top-tier league titles on 7 November 2018 after the 2–1 victory against Beijing Renhe, ending a historic run for Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao, who had won seven consecutive titles beginning with the 2011 season.[4]
Policy regarding foreign players and U-23 domestic players continued to change in this season. At least one domestic player who is under the age of 23 (born on or after 1 January 1995) must be in the starting eleven, the same as in the 2017 season.[5] However, two foreign-player policies have changed: (1) the number of foreign players on a club's roster has been reduced from five to four and (2) the total number of foreign players under contract with a club in a season has been reduced from seven to six.[5] In addition, a new policy affecting both foreign players and U-23 domestic players has been introduced: The total number of foreign players appearing in matches must be no more than the total number of U-23 domestic players.[5] Players from AFC countries no longer hold a special slot. But clubs can register one non-naturalized player from the Hong Kong Football Association, Macau Football Association or Chinese Taipei Football Association (except goalkeepers) as a native player.[6] According to the Chinese FA, a non-naturalized player is a player who was first registered as a professional footballer in one of the three aforementioned football associations. For still more complexity concerning non-naturalized players, players from Hong Kong and Macau must be passport holders of the Hong Kong SAR or the Macau SAR, and players from Taiwan must be citizens of Taiwan.[7] Policy of U-23 domestic players was relaxed in August for the 2018 Asian Games.[8] It existed in name only from October when China U-25 training team was organized.[9]