Chengdu Needed One Point From Four Games, Lost All Four, and Now Aloisi Is Gone Too

Chengdu Rongcheng needed one point from their last four games to win the first Chinese Super League title in their history. They lost all four, Dalian Yingbo took the trophy on the final day, and on Monday night the club announced that John Aloisi and his entire staff are gone.

"Mr. John Aloisi will no longer serve as head coach of Chengdu Rongcheng Football Club, and his staff will leave together," the club said on its official WeChat account, according to Reuters. The former Australia striker, who took over this season, was not the only one to leave. Chairman Wang Lei and general manager Wu Bo also resigned.

It is a hard ending for a club that has climbed fast. Chengdu were in China's fourth division as recently as 2018, reached the top flight in 2022 and finished fifth, fourth and third twice in their first four seasons there. They had been top of the table since the opening day of this campaign.

AP put Dalian's deficit at 14 points with five games left. Reuters and the BBC describe the gap as having once been 12 points. Either way, the collapse was complete: Chengdu took one point from their last five matches, while Dalian took all 15 on offer.

The decisive blow came in the penultimate round, when Dalian beat Chengdu 1-0. That was their second win over Aloisi's side this season, and it mattered more than anything else because the Chinese Super League separates teams level on points by head-to-head record, not goal difference. Chengdu had the better goal difference and still lost the title.

On the final day a draw would have been enough. Instead Chengdu were 2-0 down to Shandong Taishan inside 25 minutes, with goals from Raphael Merkies and Guilherme Madruga, per the BBC. Felipe Silva pulled one back, Cryzan restored the two-goal cushion and former Arsenal forward Wellington Silva made it 3-2 with 11 minutes left, but the equalizer never came.

Dalian did their part in front of 60,000 fans. Yang Mingrui scored inside five minutes, Xadas leveled with a penalty, and Liao Jintao and Huang Shan finished off a 3-1 win over Tianjin Jinmen Tiger. Both teams ended on 52 points.

Aloisi did not hide after the game. "We are indeed very disappointed not to have won the championship. We are in a very despairing state. There is nothing else to say," he told local media through a translator, per ABC. "Right now, my only feeling is one of great dejection and disappointment, because we could see the trophy right in front of us, but could not get it."

The BBC compared the collapse with Kevin Keegan's Newcastle, who gave up a 12-point lead to Manchester United in 1995-96. Aloisi was trying to follow fellow Australian Kevin Muscat, who won the league with Shanghai Port in 2024 and 2025.

Instead, he leaves with an unwanted place in the history books. Chengdu led the league from the opening day, had the better goal difference, and still finished second.