| Competition: | China League One |
| Season: | 2021 |
| Dates: | 24 April – 22 December |
| Winners: | Wuhan Three Towns |
| Promoted: | Wuhan Three Towns Meizhou Hakka Zhejiang Chengdu Rongcheng |
| Matches: | 306 |
| Total Goals: | 830 |
| League Topscorer: | Nyasha Mushekwi (23 goals) |
| Biggest Home Win: | (15 May 2021) (11 August 2021) |
| Biggest Away Win: | (23 July 2021) (21 December 2021) |
| Highest Scoring: | (21 December 2021) |
| Longest Wins: | 14 matches Wuhan Three Towns |
| Longest Unbeaten: | 18 matches Wuhan Three Towns |
| Longest Winless: | 32 matches Xinjiang Tianshan Leopard |
| Longest Losses: | 8 matches Jiangxi Beidamen Suzhou Dongwu |
| Prevseason: | 2020 |
| Nextseason: | 2022 |
The 2021 China League One (Chinese: 2021中国足球协会甲级联赛) is the 18th season of the China League One, the second tier of the Chinese football league pyramid, since its establishment in 2004.
The 2021 China League One season was scheduled to start on 17 March 2021, but later was postponed.[1]
On 1 April, the Chinese Football Association announced that the season would start on 24 April 2021 and the format of the season.[2] [3] The season was divided into 4 stages (10, 8, 8 and 8 rounds respectively). In the first stage, 18 teams were divided into 3 groups based on the hosts and last season's rankings. In the second, third and fourth stage, the teams in 3 groups will be switched to ensure that each team can play against each other 2 times.
The draw for the stages took place on 1 April 2021.[4]
| Team | Draw order | No. | Group | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First S. | Second S. | Third S. | Fourth S. | |||||
| Meizhou Hakka | Host | - | A1 | A | D | G | J | |
| Zhejiang | 2nd, 2020 season | 1 | A2 | A | D | G | J | |
| Shaanxi Chang'an Athletic | 10th, 2020 season | 6 | A3 | A | E | H | K | |
| Sichuan Jiuniu | 11th, 2020 season | 7 | A4 | A | E | H | K | |
| Zibo Cuju | 2nd, CL2, 2020 season | 12 | A5 | A | F | I | L | |
| Xinjiang Tianshan Leopard | 18th, 2020 season | 13 | A6 | A | F | I | L | |
| Chengdu Rongcheng | Host | - | B1 | B | F | H | J | |
| Kunshan | 3rd, 2020 season | 2 | B2 | B | F | H | J | |
| Beijing BSU | 9th, 2020 season | 5 | B3 | B | D | I | K | |
| Nantong Zhiyun | 12th, 2020 season | 8 | B4 | B | D | I | K | |
| Jiangxi Beidamen | 16th, 2020 season | 11 | B5 | B | E | G | L | |
| Nanjing City | 3rd, CL2, 2020 season | 14 | B6 | B | E | G | L | |
| Wuhan Three Towns | Host | - | C1 | C | E | I | J | |
| Guizhou | 7th, 2020 season | 3 | C2 | C | E | I | J | |
| Suzhou Dongwu | 8th, 2020 season | 4 | C3 | C | F | G | K | |
| Liaoning Shenyang Urban | 14th, 2020 season | 9 | C4 | C | F | G | K | |
| Heilongjiang Ice City | 15th, 2020 season | 10 | C5 | C | D | H | L | |
| Beijing BIT | 4th, CL2, 2020 season | 15 | C6 | C | D | H | L | |
Teams promoted from 2020 China League Two
Teams promoted to 2021 Chinese Super League
Dissolved entries
Ahead of the 2021 season, the Chinese Football Association ordered all clubs to eliminate any corporate references in their names.[6]
| Team[13] | Head Coach | City | Stadium | Capacity | 2020 season | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zhejiang |  Jordi Vinyals | Hangzhou | Huzhou Olympic Sports Centre | 40,000 | data-sort-value="1" | 2nd (Promotion play-offs loser) | |
| Kunshan | Sergio Zarco Díaz | Kunshan | Kunshan Sports Centre Stadium | 30,000 | data-sort-value="2" | 3rd | |
| Chengdu Rongcheng |  Seo Jung-won | Chengdu | Chengdu Longquanyi Football Stadium | 27,000 | data-sort-value="3" | 4th | |
| Meizhou Hakka |  Milan Ristić | Wuhua | 30,000 | data-sort-value="4" | 5th | ||
| Guizhou |  Yuan Yi | Guiyang | Guiyang Olympic Sports Center | 51,636 | data-sort-value="5" | 7th | |
| Suzhou Dongwu | Gary White | Suzhou | Suzhou Olympic Sports Centre | 45,000 | data-sort-value="6" | 8th | |
| Beijing BSU | Zhang Xu | Beijing | Olympic Sports Centre | 36,228 | data-sort-value="7" | 9th | |
| Shaanxi Chang'an Athletic | Feng Feng (caretaker) | Xi'an | Weinan Sports Center Stadium | 32,000 | data-sort-value="8" | 10th | |
| Sichuan Jiuniu | Li Yi | Chengdu | Chengdu Longquanyi Football Stadium | 27,000 | data-sort-value="9" | 11th | |
| Nantong Zhiyun | Cao Rui | Rugao | Rugao Olympic Sports Center | 15,000 | data-sort-value="10" | 12th | |
| Liaoning Shenyang Urban | Yu Ming | Shenyang | Shenyang Urban Construction University Stadium | 12,000 | data-sort-value="11" | 14th | |
| Heilongjiang Ice City | Duan Xin | Harbin | Harbin ICE Sports Center | 50,000 | data-sort-value="12" | 15th (Relegation play-offs winner) | |
| Jiangxi Beidamen | Huang Yong | Ruichang | Ruichang Sports Park Stadium | N/A | data-sort-value="13" | 16th (Relegation play-offs winner) | |
| Wuhan Three Towns P | Pedro Morilla | Wuhan | Hankou Cultural Sports Centre | 20,000 | data-sort-value="14" | CL2, 1st | |
| Zibo Cuju P | Huang Hongyi | Zibo | Zibo Sports Center Stadium | 45,000 | data-sort-value="15" | CL2, 2nd | |
| Xinjiang Tianshan Leopard | Polat Kutulk | Ürümqi | Xinjiang Sports Centre | 50,000 | data-sort-value="16" | 18th (Relegation play-offs loser) | |
| Nanjing City P |  Fulvio Pea | Nanjing | Nanjing Youth Olympic Sports Park | 18,000 | data-sort-value="17" | CL2, 3rd | |
| Beijing BIT P | Yu Fei | Beijing | BIT Eastern Athletic Field | 5,000 | data-sort-value="18" | CL2, 4th |
| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Position in table | Incoming manager | Date of appointment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shaanxi Chang'an Athletic | Kim Bong-gil | Mutual consent | 29 November 2020[14] | Pre-season | Óscar Céspedes | 23 January 2021[15] | |
| Chengdu Rongcheng | José Carlos Granero | Mutual consent | 7 December 2020[16] | Seo Jung-won | 12 December 2020[17] | ||
| Zhejiang | Zheng Xiong | Mutual consent | 31 December 2020[18] | Jordi Vinyals | 1 January 2021[19] | ||
| Meizhou Hakka |  Marcelo Rospide | Mutual consent | 6 February 2021 | Milan Ristić | 6 February 2021 | ||
| Zibo Cuju | Hou Zhiqiang | Mutual consent | 19 February 2021 | Park Chul | 19 February 2021[20] | ||
| Xinjiang Tianshan Leopard | Polat Kutulk (caretaker) | End of caretaker spell | 30 March 2021 | Pei Encai | 30 March 2021[21] | ||
| Nanjing City | Tang Bo | Mutual consent | 18 April 2021 | Fulvio Pea | 18 April 2021[22] | ||
| Beijing BSU | Su Maozhen | Mutual consent | Zhang Xu | ||||
| Zibo Cuju | Park Chul | Mutual consent | Huang Hongyi | ||||
| Wuhan Three Towns | Albert Garcia Xicota | Sacked | 25 July 2021 | 5th | Pedro Morilla | 25 July 2021[23] [24] | |
| Nantong Zhiyun | Xie Hui | Resigned | 22 August 2021[25] | 7th | Cao Rui | 26 August 2021[26] | |
| Kunshan | Gao Yao | Sacked | 16 September 2021 | 9th | Sergio Zarco Díaz | 16 September 2021[27] | |
| Xinjiang Tianshan Leopard | Pei Encai | Mutual consent | 2 October 2021 | 17th | Qeriazdan Ashar | 2 October 2021[28] | |
| Shaanxi Chang'an Athletic | Óscar Céspedes | Sacked | October 2021 | 7th | Feng Feng (caretaker) | October 2021 | |
| Guizhou | Chen Mao | Sacked | 27 November 2021 | 9th | Yuan Yi | 27 November 2021[29] | |
| Xinjiang Tianshan Leopard | Qeriazdan Ashar | Mutual Consent | 11 December 2021 | 18th | Polat Kutulk (caretaker) | 11 December 2021 |
The number of foreign players clubs can register over the course of the season is limited to four and the number of foreign players allowed on each team at any given time is limited to three. A maximum of three foreign players can be registered for each match with a maximum of two can be fielded at any time during the match. In addition, each club can register a Hong Kong, Macau, or Taiwan player of Chinese descent (excluding goalkeepers), provided that he registered as a professional footballer in one of those three association for the first time, as a native player.
Zhejiang and Chengdu Rongcheng will play the bottom two teams in the 2021 Chinese Super League (7th and 8th in the Relegation stage) in two-legged playoffs.
2–2 on aggregate. Qingdao Youth Island won 5–4 on penalties.----Guangxi Pingguo Haliao won 1–0 on aggregate.
Rashid Abubakar
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