As the curtain falls on this season's China Super League and China League A, both tournaments have set new historical records. It is noteworthy that in the past two years, the champion of the China Super League has been in the hands of a Spanish coach; similarly, the champions of the Chinese League A in the past three years have also been led by Spanish coaches. This phenomenon shows that Spain's pass-and-control soccer style has dominated the Chinese professional soccer field, and more and more clubs have begun to favor Spanish coaches.
This season's Chinese Super League title was won by Shanghai Port. Although Spanish manager Javier encountered a lot of controversy during this period, he still won his first league title in his coaching career in China, ushering in a new peak of his coaching career. It is worth mentioning that Shanghai Harbour managed to poach Javier from Henan at the beginning of the season, which proves the popularity of Javier in Chinese soccer!
Sichuan Jiuniu won the title in the Central League and the team's head coach is also from Spain. The 40-year-old coach, named Jesús Tato, trained at La Masia's youth training base and was coached by Javier. This season, Tato led Sichuan Jiuniu to the title eight points ahead of the second-place team, winning a total of 22 games, five more victories than the second-place team!
Staggeringly, last year's Chinese Super League and Chinese First Division champions were also both led by Spanish coaches. Last year's Super League title was won by Wuhan Sanzhen, coached by Pedro, while last year's Central League champion Kunshan was also coached by Spaniard Salco. Salco moved to Henan this season. In addition, the 2021 season's Central League title also came from Wuhan Sanzhen coached by Pedro!
Statistics show that the winners of the past three Chinese League One seasons and the past two Chinese Super League seasons have all been coached by Spanish coaches. The head coach of Zhejiang, the third-ranked team in this season's Chinese Super League, is also a Spaniard, Jordi. It can be said that in recent years, more and more Spanish coaches have made remarkable achievements in Chinese soccer, and most of them are good at using the tactical strategy of passing-control soccer!
