2018 Chinese Super League
The 2018 Ping An Chinese Football Association Super League was the 15th season since the establishment of the Chinese Super League. The league title sponsor was Ping An Insurance. 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.
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 must be in the starting eleven, the same as in the 2017 season. However, two foreign-player policies have changed: the number of foreign players on a club's roster has been reduced from five to four and the total number of foreign players under contract with a club in a season has been reduced from seven to six. 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. 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 as a native player. 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. Policy of U-23 domestic players was relaxed in August for the 2018 Asian Games. It existed in name only from October when China U-25 training team was organized.
Club changes
Clubs promoted from 2017 China League One- Dalian Yifang
- Beijing Renhe
- Yanbian Funde
- Liaoning F.C.
Name changes
- Guizhou Hengfeng Zhicheng F.C. changed their name to Guizhou Hengfeng F.C. in December 2017.
Clubs
Clubs and locations
Managerial changes
| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Position in table | Incoming manager | Date of appointment |
| Tianjin Quanjian |  Fabio Cannavaro | Resigned | 6 November 2017 | Pre-season |  Paulo Sousa | 6 November 2017 |
| Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao |  Luiz Felipe Scolari | End of contract | 9 November 2017 | Pre-season | Fabio Cannavaro | 9 November 2017 |
| Shanghai SIPG | André Villas-Boas | End of contract | 30 November 2017 | Pre-season | Vítor Pereira | 12 December 2017 |
| Shandong Luneng Taishan |  Felix Magath | End of contract | 1 December 2017 | Pre-season |  Li Xiaopeng | 1 December 2017 |
| Chongqing Dangdai Lifan |  Chang Woe-ryong | Mutual consent | 10 December 2017 | Pre-season | Paulo Bento | 11 December 2017 |
| Henan Jianye | Guo Guangqi ' | End of caretaker spell | 18 December 2017 | Pre-season |  Dragan Talajić | 18 December 2017 |
| Dalian Yifang |  Juan Ramón López Caro | End of contract | 26 December 2017 | Pre-season | Ma Lin | 26 December 2017 |
| Dalian Yifang | Ma Lin | Sacked | 19 March 2018 | 16th | Bernd Schuster | 19 March 2018 |
| Jiangsu Suning | Fabio Capello | Mutual consent | 28 March 2018 | 12th |  Cosmin Olăroiu | 28 March 2018 |
| Henan Jianye | Dragan Talajić | Sacked | 21 April 2018 | 14th | Chang Woe-ryong | 26 April 2018 |
| Hebei China Fortune |  Manuel Pellegrini | Mutual consent | 19 May 2018 | 8th |  Chris Coleman | 10 June 2018 |
| Guizhou Hengfeng | Gregorio Manzano | Sacked | 7 June 2018 | 16th | Dan Petrescu | 7 June 2018 |
| Chongqing Dangdai Lifan | Paulo Bento | Resigned | 22 July 2018 | 13th | Hao Haitao ' | 22 July 2018 |
| Chongqing Dangdai Lifan | Hao Haitao ' | Sacked | 8 August 2018 | 14th |  Jordi Cruyff | 8 August 2018 |
| Henan Jianye | Chang Woe-ryong | Mutual consent | 27 September 2018 | 15th | Wang Baoshan | 27 September 2018 |
| Tianjin Quanjian | Paulo Sousa | Resigned | 4 October 2018 | 13th | Shen Xiangfu ' | 4 October 2018 |
| Tianjin Quanjian | Shen Xiangfu | Joined China U-25 training team | 5 October 2018 | 13th | Park Choong-kyun | 18 October 2018 |
Foreign players
Clubs can register a total of six foreign players over the course of the season, but the number of foreign players allowed on each CSL team at any given time is limited to four. A maximum of three foreign players can be fielded in each match. In addition, each club can register a Hong Kong, Macau, or Taiwan player of Chinese descent, provided that he registered as a professional footballer in one of those three association for the first time, as a native player.- Players name in bold indicates the player is registered during the mid-season transfer window.
- Players in ITALICS have left the club, or are off the roster due to being injured or sent to the reserves.
- Players that are not in bold or italicized have been signed by the club, but exceed the 4 foreign players on the roster at any one time.
| Team | Player 1 | Player 2 | Player 3 | Player 4 | Hong Kong/Macau/ Taiwan Players | Former players |
| Beijing Renhe |  Augusto Fernández |  Benjamin Moukandjo |  Ayub Masika |  Makhete Diop | Ivo Jaime Ayoví | |
| Beijing Sinobo Guoan | Renato Augusto |  Cédric Bakambu | Jonathan Soriano | Jonathan Viera | ||
| Changchun Yatai |  Lasse Vibe |  Odion Ighalo |  Adrian Mierzejewski |  Nemanja Pejčinović | Marinho Anzur Ismailov | |
| Chongqing Dangdai Lifan | Luiz Fernandinho | Fernandinho Henrique | Alan Kardec | Sebá | Nicolás Aguirre | |
| Dalian Yifang | Nicolás Gaitán |  Yannick Carrasco |  Duvier Riascos |  Nyasha Mushekwi | José Fonte | |
| Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao | Alan Carvalho | Ricardo Goulart | Paulinho | Talisca | Nemanja Gudelj Kim Young-gwon | |
| Guangzhou R&F | Renatinho | Júnior Urso |  Eran Zahavi | Duško Tošić |  Tan Chun Lok Marko Perović | |
| Guizhou Hengfeng |  Kevin Boli | Nikica Jelavić |  Bubacarr Trawally | Mario Suárez | Festus Baise |  Tjaronn Chery |
| Hebei China Fortune | Ezequiel Lavezzi | Javier Mascherano | Hernanes |  Ayoub El Kaabi | Gervinho | |
| Henan Jianye | Ivo | Fernando Karanga | Christian Bassogog | Ricardo Vaz Tê | Orlando Sá Cala | |
| Jiangsu Suning | Alex Teixeira | Éder | Gabriel Paletta | Ramires Richmond Boakye | ||
| Shandong Luneng Taishan | Gil | Róger Guedes | Diego Tardelli | Graziano Pellè | Papiss Cissé | |
| Shanghai Greenland Shenhua | Fredy Guarín | Giovanni Moreno |  Óscar Romero | Demba Ba | Obafemi Martins | |
| Shanghai SIPG | Elkeson | Hulk | Oscar | Odil Ahmedov | ||
| Tianjin Quanjian | Alexandre Pato |  Anthony Modeste | Kwon Kyung-won | Axel Witsel | ||
| Tianjin TEDA | Johnathan | Felix Bastians | Frank Acheampong | John Obi Mikel |
- For Hong Kong, Macau, or Taiwanese players, if they are non-naturalized and were registered as professional footballers in Hong Kong's, Macau's, or Chinese Taipei's football association for the first time, they are recognized as native players. Otherwise they are recognized as foreign players.
- Festus Baise is a naturalized citizen of Hong Kong SAR; however, since his first registered football association was Hong Kong and is the passport holder of Hong Kong SAR, he would be considered as a native player.
- Player that has returned from a loan spell. It is unsure whether they will be registered for the season or sent out on loan again, but they are now on the wage bills of their respective clubs.
League table
Results
Positions by round
Results by match played
Goalscorers
Top scorers
Source:| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Wu Lei | Shanghai SIPG | |
| 2 | Odion Ighalo | Changchun Yatai | |
| 3 | Eran Zahavi | Guangzhou R&F | |
| 4 | Cédric Bakambu | Beijing Sinobo Guoan | |
| 5 | Frank Acheampong | Tianjin TEDA | |
| 5 | Diego Tardelli | Shandong Luneng Taishan | |
| 7 | Alan Kardec | Chongqing Dangdai Lifan | |
| 7 | Graziano Pellè | Shandong Luneng Taishan | |
| 7 | Talisca | Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao | |
| 10 | Nyasha Mushekwi | Dalian Yifang | |
| 10 | Alexandre Pato | Tianjin Quanjian |
Top assists
Source:| Rank | Player | Club | Assists |
| 1 | Oscar | Shanghai SIPG | |
| 2 | Renato Augusto | Beijing Sinobo Guoan | |
| 3 | Hulk | Shanghai SIPG | |
| 4 | Yu Hanchao | Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao | |
| 5 | Jonathan Viera | Beijing Sinobo Guoan | |
| 6 | Graziano Pellè | Shandong Luneng Taishan | |
| 6 | Wu Lei | Shanghai SIPG | |
| 6 | Eran Zahavi | Guangzhou R&F | |
| 9 | Éder | Jiangsu Suning | |
| 9 | Fan Yunlong | Guizhou Hengfeng | |
| 9 | Nicolás Gaitán | Dalian Yifang | |
| 9 | Jiang Zhipeng | Hebei China Fortune | |
| 9 | Jin Jingdao | Shandong Luneng Taishan | |
| 9 | Ezequiel Lavezzi | Hebei China Fortune | |
| 9 | Peng Xinli | Chongqing Dangdai Lifan | |
| 9 | Zhang Chengdong | Hebei China Fortune |
Hat-tricks
| Player | For | Against | Result | Date | Ref |
| Alan Carvalho | Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao | Guangzhou R&F | 4–5 | 02 03 2018 | |
| Eran Zahavi | Guangzhou R&F | Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao | 5–4 | 02 03 2018 | |
| Oscar | Shanghai SIPG | Dalian Yifang | 8–0 | 03 03 2018 | |
| Wu Lei | Shanghai SIPG | Dalian Yifang | 8–0 | 03 03 2018 | |
| Wu Lei4 | Shanghai SIPG | Guangzhou R&F | 5–2 | 18 03 2018 | |
| Frank Acheampong | Tianjin TEDA | Tianjin Quanjian | 3–2 | 18 03 2018 | |
| Obafemi Martins | Shanghai Greenland Shenhua | Hebei China Fortune | 4–2 | 31 03 2018 | |
| Odion Ighalo4 | Changchun Yatai | Guizhou Hengfeng | 5–2 | 21 04 2018 | |
| Bubacarr Trawally | Guizhou Hengfeng | Beijing Sinobo Guoan | 3–4 | 29 04 2018 | |
| Talisca | Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao | Guizhou Hengfeng | 4–0 | 18 07 2018 | |
| Alan Kardec | Chongqing Dangdai Lifan | Guizhou Hengfeng | 3–4 | 01 08 2018 | |
| Jonathan Soriano | Beijing Sinobo Guoan | Hebei China Fortune | 6–3 | 02 08 2018 | |
| Nyasha Mushekwi | Dalian Yifang | Guangzhou R&F | 3–0 | 10 08 2018 | |
| Renato Augusto | Beijing Sinobo Guoan | Tianjin TEDA | 5–2 | 25 08 2018 | |
| Dong Xuesheng | Hebei China Fortune | Chongqing Dangdai Lifan | 4–4 | 20 10 2018 | |
| Alexandre Pato | Tianjin Quanjian | Guangzhou R&F | 6–2 | 27 10 2018 |
Awards
The awards of 2018 Chinese Super League were announced on 21 November 2018.| Award | Winner | Club | Ref |
| Player of the Season | Wu Lei | Shanghai SIPG | |
| Golden Boot | Wu Lei | Shanghai SIPG | |
| Goalkeeper of the Season | Yan Junling | Shanghai SIPG | |
| Young Player of the Season | Huang Zichang | Jiangsu Suning | |
| Manager of the Season | Li Xiaopeng | Shandong Luneng Taishan | |
| Best Referee | Zhang Lei | - | |
| Best Assistant Referee | Huo Weiming | - | |
| Most Popular Player | Jin Jingdao | Shandong Luneng Taishan |