The 2024 Chinese football season is officially over, with the conclusion of the Chinese FA Cup final, which saw Shanghai Port claim their first major domestic cup since being established in 2005.
The Chinese FA Cup has existed since 1956, when it was initially named the Chinese National Football Championship, but it has been held in its current format since football turned professional in the Middle Kingdom in 1995.
Since then, several recognisable clubs have claimed China’s top domestic cup. However, which of them have had the honour the most times since turning professional?
Honourable Mention: Liaoning
Liaoning were a historically successful club in Chinese football. Unfortunately for the now-defunct side, most of their successes came when football was still considered amateur/semi-professional.
Along with six national league titles, Liaoning also won the Chinese FA Cup on two occasions in the pre-professional era – claiming the cup in 1984 and 1986 respectively.
A semi-final appearance in 2012 was the furthest the club ever went in the competition in the professional era, before ultimately being dissolved/absorbed into the club now named Liaoning Tieren – having been disqualified by the CFA for wage arrears back in 2020.
Having failed to win the competition post-1995, Liaoning can only be considered an honourable mention and are not in the Top-Five of this list.
5. Guangzhou
Unsurprisingly, the most successful professional-era club in Chinese history (arguably), claimed the top domestic cup enough times to feature on this list.
More surprisingly, however, is the fact that Guangzhou (predominantly named Guangzhou Evergrande during the heights of their success) only lifted the Chinese FA Cup twice – in 2012 and 2016 respectively.
Their first cup victory came against Guizhou Moutai (later Hengfeng) in a 5-2 aggregate score over two legs. This Guangzhou team featured many of the team’s superstars who would play a key role in their successes for a decade.
Gao Lin, Zheng Zhi and Zhang Linpeng played alongside strong import signings Cléo and Dario Conca, at one time the third-highest player in the world, but could only manage a 1-1 draw in the opening leg of the competition.
The return leg, in front of their home crowd, saw the southern giants dominate in a 4-1 victory to claim their first-ever domestic cup.
Four years later, Guangzhou were considered to be very lucky to have won the cup, with the final aggregate score against Jiangsu Suning being 3-3. Guangzhou claimed victory courtesy of the away goals rule, with their 2-2 draw in the second leg enough to gift them the trophy.
It was a battle of big names in 2016, with Ramires and Alex Teixeira lining up for Jiangsu while Guangzhou had Paulinho, Alan Carvalho and Ricardo Goulart on hand. Ultimately, though, the red side won and enter this list with two CFA Cup successes in their history.
4. Dalian Shide
The other team that could argue they were the most successful team in the professional era is Dalian Shide, but they-too only have two professional-era CFA Cups to their name.
Dominating in the 1990s and early 2000s, Dalian Shide claimed their two cups in 2001 and 2005 respectively. Prior to this, Dalian had won the Chinese FA Cup in the pre-professional era in 1992 – taking their total record to three across both eras.
Their 2001 opponent was Beijing Guoan, who they overcame with a 3-1 aggregate result. They picked up a 1-0 away victory in the opening leg at Workers’ Stadium courtesy of a 30th minute Li Ming goal, while the second leg was also very close.
Dalian took the lead three minutes after half time, before Beijing pulled level six minutes later. It wasn’t until the 81st minute when Serbian midfielder Srđan Bajčetić netted Dalian’s second of the match – securing victory for his team and giving them a comfortable aggregate buffer to claim their first professional CFA Cup – making them Double Champions with the 2001 Jia-A League title.
Four years later, Dalian did the double again, claiming the Chinese Super League title and their second professional-era cup with victory over Shandong Taishan.
This edition of the cup was decided in just a single final match, much like domestic cups in other leagues across the world, with Dalian claiming a 1-0 victory at the TEDA Football Stadium in Tianjin – a neutral ground.
Ma Shuai’s goal in the 70th minute was enough to decide the outcome and gave Dalian their second domestic double – in what would prove to be the last time the club would lift the trophy before ultimately dissolving less than a decade later.
3. Beijing Guoan
Third on this list is a team that has tied with second place for the most professional-era Chinese FA Cups: Beijing Guoan.
Beijing claimed a pre-professional era CFA Cup back in 1985, a 4-1 win over Guangdong, but have seen four more cup success across three decades since football turned professional.
It started in 1996 at the old Gongti, where the reigning cup champions Jinan Taishan Jiangjun (now known as Shandong Taishan), were the opponents.
A side sporting future China National Team manager Gao Hongbo claimed a dominant 4-1 win in front of the home crowd, courtesy of goals from Gao Hongbo, Gao Feng (x2) and Deng Lejun.
A year later and Beijing were back to defend their trophy, this time coming up against Shanghai Shenhua.
This final was not as much of a dominating result, ending 2-1 in favour of the Imperial Guard, with Casiano Delvalle and Nan Fang the goalscorers, while Deng Lejun contributed at the wrong end of the pitch with an own goal just five minutes in.
Beijing had to wait until 2003 to taste cup victory again, this time conquering the force that was Dalian Shide at the time – this time toppling their opponents 3-0.
In a season where the cup began with a group stage before the knockout rounds, Beijing lifted the trophy thanks to two goals from Hungarian Krisztián Kenesei sandwiching Yan Hao’s own effort, giving the green side their third professional cup.
It would be a 15-year wait before Beijing lifted the large gold trophy again, with the 2018 final taking place over two legs – pitting them against Shandong Taishan in a rematch of their 1996 success.
The result was the same, with Beijing Guoan securing the trophy thanks to the away goals rule, with a 3-3 aggregate score between the two Chinese giants.
Drawing 1-1 at home and then 2-2 in Jinan was enough for Beijing to be crowned champions. Since then, however, it’s clear which side has had more luck in the cup competition.
2. Shanghai Shenhua
Second on this list has the same number of professional era cups as Beijing Guoan, but have also claimed the cup on two occasions in the pre-professional era – hence their 2nd place on this list: Shanghai Shenhua.
The blue half of Shanghai has had plenty of success over the years, but much of their cup success has come over the past decade, with the team having just one professional cup prior to 2017.
They won the cup back in 1956 and again in 1991, but it was 1998 that the team secured their first professional cup victory, against Liaoning across two legs.
The final result was 4-2, with both games ending 2-1 in favour of the southeastern Chinese club, sending the northeasterners home wanting.
It was a long wait for the blue half of Shanghai to taste cup success again, with 19 years passing until they eeked out their red city rivals in the 2017 final.
Played over two legs, with big-name international stars such as Oscar, Hulk, Obafemi Martins and Freddy Guarin all involved, Shenhua earned a 1-0 victory at Hongkou – preventing their rivals from picking up an important away goal.
The second leg saw Port claim a 3-2 victory, with both sides claiming the lead at different stages of the match. With Shenhua scoring twice at Shanghai Stadium, however, it was enough to see them crowned cup champions courtesy of the away goals rule.
Shenhua didn’t wait long for more cup success, with a 3-1 aggregate score over Shandong Taishan in the 2019 finals.
The match once again featured some very recognisable international stars in the form of Marouane Fellaini, Stephan El Shaarawy and Odion Ighalo.
Shandong took the first leg 1-0 at home, but Shenhua dominated in the return leg and cruised to a 3-0 victory, lifting the giant gold trophy in far more convincing circumstances than their 2017 final.
Their most recent success came against Shandong once again in the 2023 final – this time in the return to single-match finals. This time it was a much closer affair and Shenhua earned a 1-0 victory thanks to Yu Hanchao’s 64th-minute goal, enough to secure victory and second place on this list.
1. Shandong Taishan
Although mentioned many times on the losing side of several finals against other teams on this list, it may not be too surprising to see Shandong Taishan sit atop this list as the most successful team in Chinese FA Cup history—with an astonishing eight cup victories since 1995.
Still named Jinan Taishan, the club defeated Shanghai Shenhua 2-0 in the first professional-era cup final. Li Xiaopeng was on the scoresheet that day, in what would be the first of three cups won during his time at the club.
In 1999, Shandong won the domestic double with the Jia-A league title, defeating Dalian Shide 4-3 in a two-legged final – winning in front of their home fans after picking up a draw in the northeast.
Five years later Sichuan First City were on the losing end, suffering a 2-1 defeat with prolific Chinese striker Li Jinyu on the scoresheet for the victors.
Dalian Shide, a regular opponent in cup finals for Shandong, suffered defeat in the 2006 final – Li Jinyu and Han Peng, a strong striker duo for the club, putting them to the sword.
It would be eight years before Shandong would extend their cup successes, with a 5-4 aggregate victory over Jiangsu Sainty in the 2014 finals.
A Vagner Love hattrick in the opening leg helped Shandong pick up a 4-2 victory at home, with Jiangsu actually winning 2-1 in the return leg. It wasn’t enough to overcome the goal difference, however, and Shandong left with yet another piece of silverware.
In 2020, Jiangsu (this time named Jiangsu Suning) lost once again to Shandong, in a 2-0 single-leg defeat that would prove to be the club’s final match before being dissolved by their parent company, having just claimed the 2020 Chinese Super League title.
That started a run of three consecutive seasons as Chinese FA Cup champions for Shandong, who defeated Shanghai Port in 2021 with a 1-0 score and then again in 2022 against Zhejiang, this time by a 2-1 margin.
They had the chance to extend their historic record in the 2024 final but fell at the last hurdle by a 3-1 score to domestic double-winning Shanghai Port.
Their search for more silverware continues and they will likely extend their lead at the top of this list before any other club has a chance to catch them.