Chongqing—Chongqing Tonglianglong's first Chinese Super League campaign ended with a 1-0 away defeat to Beijing Guoan at the Workers' Stadium on Nov. 8, with Zhang Yuning settling the match with an 80th-minute volley.
The promoted side finished 10th with eight wins, 12 draws and 10 losses for 36 points. For a club that many had tipped as a relegation candidate before the season, survival with room to spare was a credible return. But a 12-match winless run from July to October exposed the gap between a promising debut and a sustainable top-flight team.
On March 21, 2026, Chongqing Tonglianglong hosted Chengdu Rongcheng at Longxing Football Stadium in front of an electric crowd. (Photo/Chongqing Daily)
A first half that changed expectations
Few Chongqing fans expected much before kickoff. Avoiding relegation was the realistic hope. Instead, Tonglianglong spent much of the first half of the season as one of the league's most watchable newcomers.
The defining match came on March 21, the first leg of the Sichuan-Chongqing derby. Trailing Chengdu Rongcheng 2-0, Tonglianglong fought back through Kenpanu and Dimata to lead 3-2, only to concede an equalizer in stoppage time, 3-3. A four-match winning run in April - against Zhejiang, Wuhan Three Towns, Shenzhen Peng City and Shanghai Port - gave the club its first CSL winning streak and briefly lifted it to second place.
The foundation was a young squad and a pragmatic system. The first team averaged 24, among the youngest in the league, and head coach Liu Jianye, still in his 30s, built a five-back setup around two foreign center-backs, prioritizing defensive discipline and quick transitions. Fifteen rounds in, Tonglianglong had 24 points and sat second.
The city's response was immediate. Longxing Football Stadium, with a capacity of 60,000, drew more than 40,000 spectators across its 10 home matches, including 56,246 for the May 30 game against Beijing Guoan, a stadium record. Across 15 home games split between Longxing and Tonglianglong Stadium, the club attracted 510,347 fans at an average of 34,023, the league's fifth-highest total.
Longxing Football Stadium hosted 10 CSL home matches this season, attracting more than 400,000 spectators. (Photo/Chongqing Daily)
The slide: fatigue, injuries and a system figured out
The second half told a different story. From July 4 to Oct. 17, Tonglianglong went 12 league games without a win, averaging 0.72 goals per game. Across the season, the team scored 31 goals, the fewest in the CSL. Opponents gradually neutralized the 5-4-1 counterattacking shape that had frustrated them in the spring, and Kenpanu, the early-season standout, went eight competitive matches without a goal from open play.
But the causes went beyond tactics. Key midfielder Li Zhenquan suffered two serious injuries, while Xiang Yuwang, Amadou, Dimata, Ngadeu and Kenpanu all missed time. Tonglianglong rarely fielded its strongest XI in the second half of the season.
The club's final position also needs context. Nine of the 16 CSL clubs began the 2026 season with points deductions, and Tonglianglong was among them. Its official 10th-place finish therefore understates its raw-points position, and the margin for error was narrower than the table suggested.
Fans stayed with the team through the dip. "The club secured safety early, performed well in the derby and gave young players chances," said Zhang Zheng of the Chongqing Nameless Warriors supporters' group. "We're satisfied. Win or lose, we'll keep supporting them."
A harder second season
The 2027 CSL will be less forgiving. Wuhan Three Towns and Qingdao Hainiu were relegated, while Guangdong Guangzhou Leopard and Nantong Zhiyun will rise, and every club will start from zero—no deductions, no "newcomer" grace. The protective cushion Tonglianglong enjoyed in its debut season will be gone.
The club's challenge is to upgrade without destabilizing a young squad that has shown it can compete. Song Chengliang, a senior football reporter at The Paper, suggested keeping the core intact while increasing investment selectively and targeting value-for-money signings at home and abroad.
Sports commentator Zhang Bin pointed to the fate of recently promoted clubs that struggled or went straight back down - Qingdao Hainiu, Wuhan Three Towns, Nantong Zhiyun - and noted that unstable funding, wholesale squad turnover, or a lack of long-term planning were common threads. "Chongqing Tonglianglong doesn't have those problems," Zhang said. "If they reinforce properly, settle the foreign-player framework early and add variety to their tactics, they can still be a team worth watching next year."
Du Xueyong, deputy director of the Chongqing Municipal Sports Bureau, framed the second-season test as one of squad depth and tactical flexibility. Opponents will have studied Tonglianglong's patterns; the response must be better rotation, stronger injury management and a playing style that can adapt when Plan A is neutralized.
Thirty-six points and 10th place was a passable first draft. The second season will ask whether Chongqing Tonglianglong can write a different one.