The 2016-2017 Chinese Super League (CSL) season was wrapped up this weekend when Guangzhou Evergrande beat Guizhou Hangfeng Zhicheng with a comprehensive 5-1 scoreline. What began as a fairly even contest turned onesided after only a quarter of an hour as Gao Lin opened the scoring with a pinpoint header at 14 minutes and Alan sprinted through the defense and rounded the keeper for a forceful tap in only three minutes later. Guizhou responded towards the end of the first half with a cool chip from Wang Fan, making it 2-1 at the break.

The flow of play continued in the second half, but it wasn’t until the 51st minute that Guangzhou got their third – which came from Guizhou’s Du Wei, who was trying to defend a scrappy corner and ended up sending it through the crowded box into the far corner of his own net. This mistake set the tone for the rest of the game as the next two goals also came from errors. Substitute Yu Hanchao made it four with a point-blank Miroslav Klose-esque piece of goal poaching in response to a clumsy clearance by Su Boyang, Guizhou’s keeper, and Muriqui made it a brace for the Brazilians when he sealed the title with a somewhat controversial finish. After he broke through the Guizhou defense, he beat Su to the floated pass with a high boot, visibly causing the keeper to back off and look for a referee stoppage.

There are still two games remaining in the season, but with Andre Villas-Boas’ Shanghai SIPG losing 2-1 against Guangzhou R&F, Evergrande has an unassailable nine point lead on their rivals thus confirming their championship status for a record-breaking seventh time.

As important as the milestone is for the club, it’s even more important for their manager Luiz Filipe Scolari. While the big money of the Chinese Super League is enough to make anybody want to leave the more famous leagues behind, Scolari’s move to a less visible league was prompted by a run of severe losses that came under his aegis, the most memorable of which is Brazil’s infamous 7-1 loss against Germany in the semi-finals of the 2014 World Cup.

A return to Gremio in the same year, the Brazilian Serie A club with which he had the most success as a manager, was intended to make him a fan favorite again in his home country, but he resigned after less than a year in the position due to a string of poor results. He signed up as manager for Guangzhou Evergrande less than a month later, with the quick turnaround making it look more like Scolari was fleeing instead of making a considered decision.

The move, however, paid off and Evergrande won both the CSL title (also over Shanghai SIPG) and the AFC Champions League in 2015 and won the CSL again in the following season. After extending his contract when Marcello Lippi became the manager of the Chinese national team, it was expected that he would do so again and keep his run of success going, however it seems that his ego and reputation have been successfully rehabilitated as he has stated he will leave the club when his contract expires in November.

Elsewhere in the league, Shandong Luneng beat Liaoning Whowin 3-1, and Henan Jianye beat Yanbian Funde 2-1, sending both the losing sides into the relegation zone; Tianjin Teda beat Beijing Guoan 2-0; Tianjin Quanjian beat Hebei CFFC 2-1; Shanghai Shenhua drew 1-1 with Chongqing Lifan and Changchun Latai beat Jiangsu Suning 3-1.