The “Chen Yi Cup” Shanghai Football Association Race (Chinese: “陈毅杯”上海市足球协会杯赛; Pinyin: “Chényì bēi” shànghǎi shì zúqiú xiéhuì bēisài) has be founded in 1981.
Formely labelled as Shanghai “Chen Yi Cup”; it is named after CHEN Yi (Chinese: 陈毅; pinyin: Chén Yì); former Chinese communist military commander and politician. He served as Mayor of Shanghai from 1949 to 1958 and as Foreign Minister of China from 1958 to 1972.
In 1983, the number of participating teams reached a record of 2,300. Due to various reasons, it’s been suspended after 1994 but resumed in 2011. In 2022, it’s been officially renamed the “Chen Yi Cup” Shanghai Football Association Race. The winning team is eligible to represent Shanghai in the Chinese FA Cup Qualifying Tournament.
The Shanghai Lions FC & The Chen Yi Cup
There have been always kind of controversy for foreign nationals to join the cup. The Lions however have been able to join once the competition for the 2019 edition.
So far, this has been a “one-shot thing” but we wish that Shanghai Football Association (SFA) will eventually us again in the future.
Background History
Early Days
In 1981, the Shanghai Football Association and the Shanghai Federation of Trade Unions jointly established the first Shanghai “Chen Yi Cup” employee football match. The event has been held for 14 times until 1994. The early Cup was divided into 7-a-side system and 11-a-side system. The 7-a-side system was divided into three levels (A, B, and C) with 2 stages (preliminaries and finals in each competition area).
The first “Chen Yi Cup” employee football match was opened at Hongkou Stadium on November 25, 1981. Wang Daohan, the mayor of Shanghai at the time, came to the scene and kicked off the match. There were 836 registered teams for the first Cup. During the second competition in 1982, the number of registered teams doubled to 1,655. In 1983, the number of registered teams for the third session rose to 2,300, reaching the highest level in history.
To encourage the winning teams and promote the extensive development of employee football activities in Shanghai; winning teams were invited to compete with brother cities (Nanjing, Dalian, Qingdao, Chongqing & Guangzhou) in 1989 through mutual visits.
In the early 1990s, Shanghai started to experience major industrial adjustments… For instance, the factories that owned those football teams were gradually transformed into companies one after another. Therefore, the original model of manufacturers paying to support a team got completely disrupted. Other factors such as the loss of interest from young workers; this football development model supported by companies became a thing of the past.
As a consequence, the cup got suspended from 1995 to 2010.
Recovery
In 2010, based on the success of the 11th Shanghai Games, the Shanghai Sports Bureau and the Shanghai Federation of Trade Unions decided to resume the Shanghai “Chen Yi Cup”.
On May 28, 2011, the Shanghai “Chen Yi Cup” football match resumed. During the period from 2012 to 2015, it was divided into 3 groups: the social group, the network group and the Korean League group, and there was a final.
Until 2016, the “Chen Yi Cup” was the highest-level amateur football competition available in Shanghai. In 2017, the SFA created the Shanghai Football Association Amateur Football League (Chinese: 上海市足球协会超级联赛; Pinyin: Shànghǎi shì zúqiú xiéhuì chāojí liánsài) independently from the “Chen Yi Cup”.
Since the establishment of this amateur league in 2017; the winning team of the “Chen Yi Cup” is eligible to represent Shanghai in the Chinese FA Cup Qualifying Tournament.
“Chen Yi Cup”Results
Early Days (1981-1994)
| Edition | Year | No. of teams | 7-a-side (Group A) | 7-a-side (Group A) | 11-a-side | 11-a-side |
| Champion | Runner-up | Champion | Runner-up | |||
| 1 | 1981 | 836 | China Textile Machinery Factory | Yangpu Real Estate Bureau | ||
| 2 | 1982 | 1,646 | Dalong Machinery Factory | Yangpu Real Estate Bureau | ||
| 3 | 1983 | 2,301 | Yangpu Real Estate Bureau | Dalong Machinery Factory | ||
| 4 | 1984 | 2,103 | Dalong Machinery Factory | Bike Three factory | ||
| 5 | 1985 | 1,251 | Shanghai Tool Factory | Huatong Switch Factory | ||
| 6 | 1986 | 1,227 | First Textile Machinery Factory | New China Knife & Scissors Factory | ||
| 7 | 1987 | 1,027 | Shanghai Tool Factory | Huatong Switch Factory | ||
| 8 | 1988 | 627 | Shanghai Sewing Machine Factory | Shanghai Motor Factory | ||
| 9 | 1989 | 533 | New Asia Radio Factory | Huatong Switch Factory | Yangpu Real Estate Bureau | Second Ironworks |
| 10 | 1990 | 643 | Shanghai Tool Factory | Shanghai Refinery | Yangpu Real Estate Bureau | Bike Three factory |
| 11 | 1991 | Shanghai Xu Fang | ||||
| 12 | 1992 | |||||
| 13 | 1993 | |||||
| 14 | 1994 |
After Recovery (2011-Present)
| Edition | Year | No. of teams | Champion | Runner-up | Third | Fourth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 28 | Xufang Group | Zhabei District | Sinopec Tongji | Baoshan Highway | |
| 2012 | 24 | Sinopoly Petrochemical | Zhabei District | Combat Municipal | Xufang Group | |
| 2013 | 10 | Combat Municipal | Sports Window | Zhabei District | Xufang Group | |
| 2014 | 6 | Moser DIB | Jiading City Development | Xufang Group | Yangpu Chuanglin | |
| 2015 | 8 | Xufang Group | Jiading City Development | Chengtou Water | Xiangyang Faculty (Xuhui Faculty) | |
| 2016 | 14 | Shanghai Shenfan | Yangpu Donghua Chuanglin | Xufang Engineering University | Swaying Sports | |
| 2017 | 11 | Huajiao Mariners | Shanghai Fuxing | Shangchexiang | Xufang Engineering University | |
| 2018 | 20 | SAIC DIB | Shanghai Huajiao | Jiading City Development | Chengtou Water | |
| 2019 | 44 | Shanghai Huajiao | real milan | SAIC Tongji | Mitsubishi Heavy Industries K Lion | |
| 2020 | 37 | Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Flying Lions | Shanghai Huajiao | Shanghai Public Security | Shanghai Tangerine | |
| 2021 | 29 | Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Flying Lions | Shanghai Huajiao | Shanghai Tongji | East China Politics and Law | |
| 2022 |
More About Previous Editions (in Chinese)
- 2020 Shanghai Football Association “Chen Yi Cup” Competition
- 2021 “Chen Yi Cup” Shanghai 11-a-side Football Tournament
- 2022 “Chen Yi Cup” Shanghai Football Association Cup
