On 2 January, Toni Šunjić completed his transfer to Henan Jianye, the team he played for on loan after he was signed by Guoan in the summer of 2020.

On 8 February, the Asian Football Confederation announced that fellow CSL club Shandong Taishan was banned from this season's AFC Champions League due to finance-related violations.

[22][23] Under this regulation, Guoan need to drop Sinobo, a Chinese real estate investment company and the club's majority owner, from its name.

The report claims that due to CITIC being a Chinese state-owned enterprise, ownership transfer requires a more complicated process, and that the parties involved could not agree over the transaction cost.

[29] During a television interview with CCTV reporter Bai Yansong on 19 March, the president of Chinese FA Chen Xuyuan stated that it is likely for Guoan to keep its name provided the ownership transfer occurs without incident.

After a first half with highlights from both sides, Shenhua's Moreno broke the deadlock on the 59th minute with a header at the end of a corner situation, which Guoan defended haphazardly throughout the game.

Head coach Bilić attempted a new tactic by selecting a three-defender backline with the hopes of increasing aggression and allowing for more players to join the attack, but the experiment failed as Shanghai Port's Lopes scored a quickfire double inside the first four minutes of the game.

[40] Adding to the misfortune, Bilić reported on the same day during the pre-match press conference against Wuhan that defender Yu Yang suffered a rib fracture and will be sidelined for extended periods.

On 18 June, Guoan's AFC Champions League squad traveled to Uzbekistan ahead of the upcoming group stage games.

Due to overlapping schedule with the CSL and the Chinese government's mandatory 14-day quarantine after returning from a foreign country, Guoan's team consisted mostly of reserve squad players.

The 21-player squad included four younger first-team players, Guo Quanbo, Li Boxi, Xie Longfei and Jiang Wenhao, and the average age is only 20.9 years.

Guoan failed to maintain the advantage, however, in the second half, giving up two goals from free kick situations and one more from a rapid counted directly after Leng Jixuan hit the post.

Guoan doubled the lead in the 83rd minute after Zhang Xizhe scored another penalty from a foul committed on Yu Dabao as he lunged forward to contest a loose ball in the box.

[62] Since his arrival in January 2016, he capped for the club 152 times, scoring 40 and assisting another 45; he was a crucial part of the 2019 team that won the Chinese FA cup.

[66] In the 60th minute, Li Lei's mistimed challenge allowed the opposition a series of passes on the left side that eventually resulted in a goal.

Bakambu scored two early goals for Guoan: sending the keeper the wrong way after a long through ball from Gao Tianyi in the 15th minute, and tapping in a Zhang Yuning pullback in the 20th.

Guoan conceded in the 67th minute from a set piece situation as the ball slipped in Hou Sen's hands, but held on well against a late Wuhan surge and ended the game with a 2–1 victory.

[71] In the 6 August game against Hebei, goalkeeper Hou Sen put on a magnificent performance and denied the opposition multiple scoring chances.

Bilić opted for a rotation in the game, sitting Li Lei, Wang Gang and Yu Dabao and instead named Liu Huan, Jiang Tao and Bai Yang in the starting eleven.

After an exciting first half with chances for both sides, Zhang Yuning broke the deadlock heading in a Bakambu shot that hit the crossbar in the 53rd minute.

[76] With the precious 2–1 win, Guoan maintained the hope of qualifying for the champions group in the next stage as the team is one point behind Shanghai Shenhua, the next and last matchday's opponent.

In the 16th minute, Wang Gang's pull back cross found Shenhua's defender, who turned in into his own goal for a 3–0 Guoan lead.

Shenhua pulled one back during the first half stoppage time, but Zhang Yuning sealed the game in the 81st minute after noticing that he was unmarked in the opposition box.

[77] Guoan announced on 18 August that it has terminated the contract of Fernando after friendly discussion as he was unable to return to China due to the country's strict COVID-19 quarantine regulations.

[79] After an extended break and training camps, Guoan returned to play action on 14 October against China League One Sichuan Jiuniu in the first round in the Chinese FA Cup.

[80] Wang Ziming opened the scoring in the 29th minute on a Cao Yongjing counter, but Jiuniu equalized in the second half, bringing the game into penalties.

[82] On 30 November, during the extended break in the China Super League due to national team competitions and Chinese quarantine requirements for people who have traveled abroad, Guoan announced the departure of record goalscorer Cédric Bakambu.

[88][89] A day later on 20 December, Li Lei announced his departure to join Grasshopper Club Zürich after the completion of Guoan's season.

Silva opened the scoring for Guoan after tapping in his own shot that bounced off the post from a Li Lei cross in the 10th minute.

Zhang Yuning converted a penalty earned by Silva in the 39th minute to give Guoan the lead before the team conceded an outside-the-box goal.