ith four games of the Chinese Super League to go, Chengdu Rongcheng needed just a point to clinch their first title. With one game to go, they still need a point. What was a formality has become a formidable task. The biggest bottle job in Asian football history is very much on and it would be as popular as it would be dramatic.
The coach of the Sichuan club, the former Portsmouth and Coventry striker John Aloisi, has seen a 12-point lead over Dalian Yingbo cut to just three before Sunday's showdowns. Whatever happens, this is a positive and thrilling end to a season that started negatively – literally – with nine of the 16 top-tier clubs kicking off on minus points. They had been punished as part of a "special campaign to crack down on match-fixing, gambling and corruption in the football industry", said a joint statement from the Chinese Football Association, the Ministry of Public Security and the General Administration of Sport at the time.
Chengdu were one of the seven to start on zero, above the defending champions, Shanghai Port, who lost five points and the runners-up, Shanghai Shenhua, who were hit with 10. It robbed the usual favourites of energy and it was all a bit surreal.
It almost felt over as soon as it started with Chengdu opening up a big lead, dropping just two points from the first 12 games while the usual powers struggled to get going.
Chengdu is a major city more known for its fiery Sichuan cuisine, genteel temples and cute pandas than football, despite English attempts to change that. In 2006, Sheffield United bought a local club but the Chengdu Blades were eventually dissolved in 2015. Four years later, City Football Group bought a stake in Sichuan Jiuniu but then moved the club to the southern city of Shenzhen in 2024.
Chengdu Rongcheng were formed in 2018, coming up through the divisions to finally, this season, be within touching distance of the championship. But just two wins from the last 13 and three straight defeats mean the leaders are not limping to the line but have collapsed right next to it.
It should have been over weeks ago. On 10 October, more than 40,000 fans were ready to celebrate the title but an added-time goal from Alberto Quiles gave Tianjin Jinmen Tiger a 1-0 win and postponed the celebrations. Next up was a trip to Shanghai Port but that ended in a 3-0 defeat. The penultimate game of the season came against challengers Dalian Yingbo, when again, just avoiding defeat was needed. It was another painful experience as they lost 1-0 after missing a first-half penalty and having a 90th-minute equaliser ruled out by the video assistant referee.
Chengdu have not scored in almost seven hours of football while Dalian are the form team with four consecutive wins. If they win a fifth against Tianjin then Chengdu need a point at fourth-placed Shandong Taishan as the league is decided by head-to-head results before goal difference. Not many think they will. Even fewer hope so. Dalian and the 60,000 fans that attend home games are the people's choice. Chengdu are not popular because their fans have developed a poor reputation. Last November, the club was fined about $70,000 (£52,200) after some home supporters racially abused Henan FC's Ghanaian striker Frank Acheampong, just weeks after a punishment of $3,000 after travelling supporters at a Champions League game in South Korea threw bottles at the Ulsan HD players.
Whatever happens it is an unexpected and dramatic ending to a season that started in shock and the usual negative international headlines that surround Chinese football. The grandstand finish is welcome and average attendances have risen. They are set to finish at about 30,000, a considerable jump from last season's 25,755 and, by some distance, the best in Asia. Regional leagues have been enjoying some popularity too, showing that there is genuine love for the game in the country; a passion that grows better when it is organic from the bottom rather than organised from the top.
The national side is still a problem, though, and even for a fanbase well accustomed to disappointment the recent 5-0 defeat to Palestine at home, the fourth-biggest loss in history, was tough to take. As one journalist said, being thrashed by Brazil, Japan and Wales is one thing, but Palestine was another. There were some mitigating circumstances in that a number of national team players were at the Asian Games, where China actually performed well, losing narrowly to old nemesis South Korea in the bronze final.
There are signs that the gap behind Korea is not as wide as it used to be. China reached the final of the under-17 and under-23 Asian championships this year before losing both against Japan. Compared with the rest of Asia's best, young Chinese players are closing the gap at a technical and tactical level. Exporting more players to Europe is necessary to play at a higher level and if that happens, that senior national shirt may feel a little lighter.
Failure can, however, be hard to shake off as Chengdu Rongcheng may well find out if they mess this up.