Opinion | Golden goose: is Guangzhou Evergrande’s domestic dominance hurting China in the AFC Champions League?
Both Super League duo Shanghai SIPG and Shandong Luneng were eliminated in the quarter-finals last week by opposition from South Korea
This was the season that Chinese football exploded on to the world’s consciousness, but on a regional level it is not the year that a new Super League team wins the AFC Champions League and keeps the trophy in China.
Last week in the quarter-finals the remaining Chinese teams bowed out as Sven Goran Eriksson’s Shanghai SIPG were humbled 5-0 in South Korea by Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors to exit after losing by the same scoreline on aggregate.
Back in China, Shandong Luneng held South Korea’s FC Seoul to a 1-1 draw, but went out 4-2 over the two legs.
Despite this being the “golden age of Chinese football” as claimed by new Hebei China Fortune FC manager Manuel Pellegrini, last year’s Champions League winners Guanghzou Evergrande did not even make it out of the group stage.
Both Shandong and Shanghai did well to go as far as they did – Shandong manager Felix Magath was not wrong in suggesting his side had “defended the honour of Chinese football” after their draw – but at the same time it was no surprise that either lost to K-League sides.
Watch: Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors 5 Shanghai SIPG 0