Dalian Aerbin as the champion of 2011 season and Guangzhou R&F as runner-up had promoted to the 2012 Chinese Super League.

They were replaced by Chengdu Blades and Shenzhen Ruby, who had relegated from the 2011 Chinese Super League after finishing the season in the bottom two places of the table.

Guizhou Zhicheng had relegated to the 2012 China League Two after finishing the 2011 season in last place and lost play-off match against 2011 China League Two 3rd-placed team Fujian Smart Hero.

[2] Restricting the number of foreign players strictly to four per CL1 team.

Hong Kong/Macau/Taiwan players (doesn't count on the foreign player slot) Updated to games played on Oct. 28th, 2012Source: Chinese Football Data (in Chinese)