The 2006 Chinese Super League (CSL) will raise its curtain on Saturday as hosts Qingdao Zhongneng meet Beijing Guo'an with a 15:00 kick off in the first round of the tournament.

Fifteen teams are about to compete in the country's top soccer league this season that will be staged between March 11 and October 22 with the bottom team being relegated and replaced by the top two in the first division.

Of this year's teams Dalian Shide, Shanghai Shenhua and Shandong Luneng were out in front with 95 percent of all the votes cast for the 2006 title in online poll taken by top Chinese portal sina.com.

Dalian Shide FC have dominated the Chinese professional league since its inception, winning the Division I (Jia A) titles in 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001 and 2002 and the second CSL champions after Shenzhen Jianlibao in 2004.

Good results and sound experience aside, the newly introduced defenders Zhang Yaokun and Liu Yu will make the team even more competitive by adding further to their strength at the back.  

Serb coach, Vladimir Petrovic Pizon, who took over from China's international striker Hao Haidong and led Shide to the league No.1 position in his debut season, is confident about the forthcoming matches.

"This year's games will be tough with Luneng and Shenhua being the biggest rivals and both Guo'an and Tianjin strong, but my side can take on the best," he said. 

Shanghai Shenhua haven't tasted success for two years (10th in 2004 and runners-up in 2005) after they grabbed the last Jia A title in 2003. Now with an injection of over US$10 million for the new season, it's anticipated that some colorful new arrivals will inject some of the old flair and bring back glory of previous seasons. Among the new arrivals are big names like national team captain Li Weifeng and international striker Goran Trobok from Serbia-Montenegro.

"We have such a strong line-up that we'll be heading for the top!" said Shanghai's fullback Du Wei.

Shandong, who finished a disappointing third in the CSL last term, are also making ready for their challenge. They've got a more balanced pool of players this season that includes national team goalkeeper Li Leilei, defender Predrag Pazin, midfielder Wang Liang and Monterrey striker Antonio De Nigris.

Kang Mengjun, general manager of Shandong Luneng, said, "Our goal is very clear, that is to make sure to get into the top three and push for the championship."
 
In addition to the favorites, the newly promoted Changchun Yatai and Xiamen Lanshi will make their first appearances in Saturday's games and perhaps bring a bit of fresh excitement to the 2006 season.

"This year's CSL games are pretty concentrated and the matches will be ever more competitive after changes were made to the relegation system," said China Football Association (CFA) President Xie Yalong. The system was suspended last year due to a boycott by the clubs.

The CFA also announced that it would for the first time join with the Ministry of Public Security in fighting scandals such as match fixing, the bribing of referees and betting on match results. Efforts should be made to rebuild the reputation of China's soccer.

In a related development the CFA was reported to hold a contract signing ceremony this afternoon with PC-phone telecom company, Iphox, who has won the 'naming rights' to the 2006 CSL season at a cost of 80 million yuan (US$9.94 million).

The CSL ran the 2005 season without a title because the highest bid for the 'naming rights' was only US$5 million, which was not accepted by the soccer governing body.

(China.org.cn by Li Xiao, March 10, 2006)