Overview
The first Chinese Super League (CSL) season was greeted with great enthusiasm by the media and the FA, with the decision to create a new top tier league in China made in order to freshen up Chinese football. The previous ten seasons of the old Chinese first division had been successful and had improved the quality of play in China, however, the Chinese FA felt that a change was needed to give Chinese Football a further boost.
The decision to create the Chinese Super League was made before the 2003 Chinese season and of the 15 First Division teams competing in the 2003 season, it was decided that 3 would be relegated with no promotion at all from the second tier league. The remaining 12 teams would compete in the inaugural Super League season.
It was planned that one team would be relegated with two teams to be promoted into the CSL at the end of the season but the relegation was cancelled halfway through and so for the second season the Super League had 14 teams.
Read more about this topic: 2004 Chinese Super League