The 2016 Chinese Super League season is on course to be the best ever. As the season reaches the quarter-mark, average attendances of just under 30,000 are seeing some top class players deliver the goods. There is a general mood of optimism and excitement in the air.

If this week's football events in England showed that money does not always bring success, China shows that it certainly helps.

The teams that have spent the most -- a combined winter total of over $150 million -- make up the top three. Since losing the first game of the season, Luiz Felipe Scolari's Guangzhou Evergrande, looking for a sixth successive title, have won six successive games to go top of the table.

Jiangsu Suning, led by Dan Petrescu, are second and unbeaten while Sven Goran Eriksson's Shanghai SIPG are in third. Surprise package Henan Jianye sit in fourth while newly promoted Hebei CFFC, another big spender, are fifth buoyed by Gervinho and Ezequiel Lavezzi.

At the moment Shanghai, runners-up last time around, are perhaps the outsiders. Not because of the weakness of the team but because SIPG are the only one of the trio to survive the first round of the AFC Champions League.

Money helps, but does not guarantee anything. In April, Guangzhou, the defending continental title holders and going for a third win in four years, were eliminated before the final group stage match had even been played.

On Wednesday, Jiangsu also exited the competition. The team from Nanjing, taken over at the end of last season by retail giants Suning, spent more than any other last winter.

There was the $80 million plus spent on Brazilian internationals Alex Teixeira and Ramires. With former Everton and Manchester City striker Jo up front, highly-rated Australian international Trent Sainsbury in defence and Gu Chao, at $9 million, the most expensive goalkeeper in China, the third place finish in Group E was something of a disappointment.

Unlike Guangzhou however, Jiangsu came close. Needing a win at Jeonbuk Motors to go through, the southerners could only draw in South Korea despite the best efforts of Teixeira, who scored, and Ramires, who did everything but.

Captain Wu Xi told Chinese media after the exit that it would be good for the team in the long run.

"The experience is very useful. It is a step up and takes some adjustment," he said. "If we can take that into the Super League then it will be good for us.

"We feel we should have got to the next stage but this is a better performance than the last time."

The skipper was referring to 2013 when the team's first-ever game in Asia ended in a 5-1 thrashing at FC Seoul.

It's different for Guangzhou, a team that expects to win at home and abroad. If the failure of the Reds was greeted by severe self-examination and recriminations and likely cost club president Liu Yongzhou his job, then Jiangsu have escaped lightly.

Not only did they come close, unlike the holders, but this team is still a work in progress after being a mid-table stalwart for the past three seasons. Ahead of the new campaign, Petrescu was told that the club aims to be winning the Asian Champions League three or four years down the line. Suning chairman Zhang Jindong was out but not too down.

"We can see where we need to improve," he told Chinese media. "We have a lack of experience in this competition and we can improve in this regard. It will give us greater focus to go and succeed in the the Super League."

Former Chelsea defender Petrescu is not expected to deliver titles just yet, as is the case with Scolari, though there has been some criticism in China about Jiangsu's direct style especially as it sometimes leave Teixeira, one of the league's best attacking talents. too isolated.

"It is very disappointing to go out, we played well but could only draw." Petrescu said after the game, "Out of this failure, we can have success in the future. And right now, we will focus on the Super League."

That is the same message, then, coming out of the club from captain, coach and owner: The Super League is everyone's priority. The same is true at Guangzhou. It is all very ominous for the rest.

The Southern Tigers have never -- their first title in 2011 apart -- had so much freedom to concentrate on the league. The champions not only have Ricardo Goulart, Paulino and Jackson Martinez, they have the strongest contingent of China internationals.

While Guangzhou need to win the title. Jiangsu would simply love to. The challenge for Petrescu is to turn the team's best ever top flight start into a genuine tilt at the championship. If Jiangsu can push the battle-hardened Reds all the way, that would be a sign of progress.

It is hard to look past the top three. Traditional powerhouses Beijing Guoan and Shandong Luneng were outside bets anyway but have started horribly with Alberto Zaccheroni's job in the capital under threat.

Mano Menezes would be in the same boat had the former Brazil boss not taken Shandong to the last 16 of the Asian Champions League. Henan and Hebei are unlikely to have the staying power.

That leaves Guangzhou, Jiangsu and Shanghai. These big spenders know that while money helps, it can't buy everything. There is a lot of hard work ahead though for the top two, elimination from Asia makes it a little easier.

Source:
courtesy of ESPNFC

by John Duerden

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