Darío Leonardo Conca 
Age: 28

Team: July 2, 2011- Guangzhou Evergrande
CSL ranking: 1

Appearances: 15
Goals: 9
Assists: 6

The most expensive players on the CSL by far made a glamorous debut on July 14, when Evergrande hosted Nanchang Hengyuan. He stepped onto the field in the last 20 minutes, arousing chants of his name with crafty and pinpoint passes and a 38-meter-long goal.

Voted the best player in Brazil in Globo’s poll, the former Fluminense midfielder scored nine goals and made eight assists, proving to be the club’s dominant playmaker. Hopefully Evergrande and Conca will get the most out of the three years and a half, and, as gossip goes, Conca may think of playing for China.

Luiz Guilherme da Conceicao Silva "Muriqui"
Age: 25

Team: June 30, 2010- Guangzhou Evergrande
CSL ranking: 1

Appearances: 26
Goals: 16
Assists: 7

The Brazilian ranks as the top CSL scorer in 2011. He is the only one in Evergrande’s six foreign aids who was with the team when it was relegated to the second tier League 1 as punishment for match fixing. His amazing goal rate helped the team go back up to the top flight.

He threatened to leave after being suspended for five matches and fined 25,000 yuan for being involved in a scuffle with Liaoning Whowin. But Evergrande managed to pacify and keep the most powerful striker to complete the contract.

Christian Danalache
Age: 29

Team: March 21, 2011- Jiangsu Sainty
CSL ranking: 4

Appearances: 30
Goals: 13
Assists: 5

Aleksandar Jevtic
Age: 26

Origin: Serbia

Team: July 7, 2011- Jiangsu Sainty
CSL ranking: 4

Appearances: 17
Goals: 11
Assists: 3

Jiangsu Sainty scored 43 goals this season, of which 24 go to Danalache and Jevtic.

Sainty ranked 10 in 2009 and 11 in 2010, and a lackluster start in the third year of its CSL games hardly made people notice it. After five defeats and a draw, Sainty only made two goals.

Then Serb coach Dragomir Okuka took over on May 11.

His stress on offence soon made Sainty more aggressive on its front. 

The club defeated visitor Dalian Shide 4-0 in the 13th round, with Danalache scoring twice. It beat Shide again 3-0 when it visited the latter in the 29th round. Danalache scored a penalty, while Jevtic, who joined the club in July, converted a header-relay into a goal.

In the 28th round, Sainty beat the star-studded champions Evergrande 5-2. The Serb scored once, and the Romanian doubled his goal in the 52nd minutes.

Appearances: 30
Goals: 14
Assists: 2

Team: January 2011- Shanghai Shenhua
CSL ranking: 11

Appearances: 26
Goals: 12
Assists: 4

Both South American scorers helped to lift their clubs, once top of the Chinese football clubs, above relegation. De Marcedo has signed for another two years with Henan Construction on Nov 3, one day after the CSL 2011 was finished. 

Team: Feb 10, 2011- Guangzhou Evergrande
CLS ranking: 1

Guoan, who reached the second place this season, ended the contract with the Honduras right winger, though he scored the second most goals for the club.

His skills and height may have fallen short of what coach Pacheco would have expected in a striker. After being injured in June 19 in a CONCACAF Gold Cup match with Costa Rica, he slipped from his regular performance back in Guo’an, which finally led to his departure.

The tears he shed showed how tough it was for Martinez, who played four seasons for the club. 

Luciano Olguin
Age: 29

Team: July 2010- Nov 1011: Tianjin Teda
CSL ranking: 10

Chinese soccer witnesses fewer violent tackles or other dangerous fouls than years before, but players are still exposed to risks that may cost them their health and career.

In the 25th round, Olgun crashed his skull and cervical vertebrae while vying for the ball with an Evergrande player, which ruled him out of the rest league matches. The accident was so shocking that a photographer near the spot said he “could even hear the terrible cracking sound”.

Teda didn't renew the contract with him after this season, though fans were reluctant to let the 6'2'' striker go. Now in Argentina for further treatment, Olguin expressed his hope to come back to the CSL next season. Fans, keep your fingers crossed. 

Under his coaching, Japan won 2000 Asian Cup and 2001 Confederations Cup, and made to the last 16 of 2002 World Cup, not to mention his generally successful coaching career in Africa.

But maybe it’s time fans admitted that they had expected too much too soon.

Omar Troussier became coach of Shenzhen Ruby FC in February. And the club slipped to relegation one game before the end of the season.

Later, seven players of the club refused to take part in a training session over labor disputes, making the situation worse for the club that once gathered top Chinese players and claimed the league’s title in 2004.

The French also had a tough time with the club’s management. According to Beijing Times, Troussier wants to see manager Yu Huaiying leave if he is to stay for another season.

Time will tell if he can save Shenzhen Ruby, but we hardly know how much time he’s got.