Region China | ||
Founded 1956; 61 years ago (1956) as Chinese National Football Championship
1995; 22 years ago (1995) Current champions Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao (2nd title) Most successful club(s) Shandong Luneng Taishan
(Five titles) | ||
The Chinese FA Cup (Chinese: 中国足协杯) is the national knockout cup competition in China organized by the Chinese Football Association.
History
It was started as Chinese National Football Championship (Chinese: 全国足球锦标赛) in 1956. The tournament was reorganized after the Culture Revolution and used name Chinese FA Cup for the first time in 1984. It was scrapped for the 6th National Games of China in 1987. It was reorganized again as Chinese National Cup Winners' Cup (Chinese: 全国足球优胜者杯赛) between 1990 and 1992 as the qualification of Asian Cup Winners' Cup.
Its current format started in the 1995 season after professional football league was established in China. It was temporary scrapped in 2007 for Chinese Football Association 2008 Summer Olympic strategy, and made its return when the 2011 Chinese FA Cup was announced after a long hiatus. Amateur teams were first introduced in the 2012 Chinese FA Cup according to the new slogan Game For All.