[2][3] Shanghai SIPG won their first top-tier league titles on 7 November 2018 after the 2–1 victory against Beijing Renhe, ending a historic run for Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao, who had won seven consecutive titles beginning with the 2011 season.

At least one domestic player who is under the age of 23 (born on or after 1 January 1995) must be in the starting eleven, the same as in the 2017 season.

[5] However, two foreign-player policies have changed: (1) the number of foreign players on a club's roster has been reduced from five to four and (2) the total number of foreign players under contract with a club in a season has been reduced from seven to six.

[9] Clubs promoted from 2017 China League One Clubs relegated to 2018 China League One Beijing Renhe and Dalian Yifang return to the division after a 2-year absence and a 3-year absence respectively.

[5] In addition, each club can register a Hong Kong, Macau, or Taiwan player of Chinese descent (excluding goalkeepers), provided that he registered as a professional footballer in one of those three association for the first time, as a native player.