| Competition: | China League One |
| Season: | 2016 |
| Winners: | Tianjin Quanjian |
| Promoted: | Tianjin Quanjian Guizhou Hengfeng Zhicheng |
| Relegated: | Qingdao Jonoon Hunan Billows |
| Matches: | 240 |
| Total Goals: | 647 |
| League Topscorer: |  Luís Fabiano(22 goals) |
| Biggest Home Win: | Meizhou Hakka 6–0 Hunan Billows (Apr. 16th, 2016) (6 goals) |
| Biggest Away Win: | Dalian Transcendence 0–4 Shanghai Shenxin (Jul. 3rd, 2016) Hunan Billows 1–5 Zhejiang Yiteng (Aug. 13th, 2016) (4 goals) |
| Highest Scoring: | Shanghai Shenxin 5–3 Meizhou Hakka (Sept. 11th, 2016) (8 goals) |
| Highest Attendance: | 30,568 Guizhou Hengfeng Zhicheng 1–1 Meizhou Hakka (Mar. 13th, 2016) |
| Lowest Attendance: | 0 Hunan Billows 1–1 Meizhou Hakka (Jul. 30th, 2016) |
| Average Attendance: | 6,220 |
| Prevseason: | 2015 |
| Nextseason: | 2017 |
The 2016 China League One [1] was the 13th season of the China League One, the second tier of the Chinese football league pyramid, since its establishment in 2004. The league's title sponsor is the e-commerce website 58.com.[2]
A total of 16 teams are contesting in the league, including 12 sides from the 2015 season, two relegated from the 2015 Chinese Super League and two promoted from the 2015 China League Two.
Teams relegated from 2015 Chinese Super League
Teams promoted from 2015 China League Two
Teams promoted to 2016 Chinese Super League
Teams relegated to 2016 China League Two
| Club | Outgoing manager | Date of vacancy | Incoming manager | Date of appointment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Goran Tomić | 1 November 2015 | Vanderlei Luxemburgo | 1 November 2015 [9] | |
| Hunan Billows | Žikica Tasevski (caretaker) | 1 November 2015 |  Tomaž Kavčič | 30 November 2015 [10] |
 Liu Junwei | 4 December 2015 |  Kim Sang-ho | 4 December 2015 [11] | |
| Gong Lei | 8 December 2015 | Wang Baoshan | 8 December 2015 [12] | |
| Shenzhen F.C. |  Li Haiqiang (caretaker) | 9 December 2015 | Tang Yaodong | 9 December 2015 [13] |
 Dragan Stančić (caretaker) | 15 December 2015 | 15 December 2015 [14] | ||
| Sun Xinbo (caretaker) | 28 December 2015 |  Jordi Vinyals | 28 December 2015 [15] | |
| Qi Wusheng | 31 December 2015 | 1 January 2016 [16] | ||
| Zhejiang Yiteng | 31 December 2015 | Goran Tomić | 1 January 2016 [17] | |
| Zhejiang Yiteng | Goran Tomić | 22 March 2016 [18] | Duan Xin (caretaker) | 22 March 2016 [19] |
| Guizhou Zhicheng | Chen Mao | 7 April 2016 | Li Bing (caretaker) | 7 April 2016 [20] |
| Liu Zhongchang | 13 April 2016 [21] | Sun Feng (caretaker) | 15 April 2016 [22] | |
| Sun Feng (caretaker) | 21 April 2016 | Ermin Šiljak | 21 April 2016 [23] | |
| Hunan Billows | 28 May 2016 | Huang Xiangdong (caretaker) | 28 May 2016 [24] | |
| Shanghai Shenxin | Kim Sang-ho | 30 May 2016 [25] | Gary White | 30 May 2016 [26] |
| Vanderlei Luxemburgo | 5 June 2016 |  Fabio Cannavaro | 9 June 2016 [27] | |
| Zheng Xiong | 26 June 2016 [28] | Ciro Ferrara | 5 July 2016 [29] | |
 Mikael Stahre | 5 July 2016 | Milinko Pantić | 5 July 2016 [30] | |
| Shenzhen F.C. | Tang Yaodong | 7 July 2016 | Clarence Seedorf | 7 July 2016 [31] |
| 19 July 2016 | Cao Yang (caretaker) | 19 July 2016 [32] | ||
| Ermin Šiljak | 10 August 2016 |  Rusmir Cviko (caretaker) | 10 August 2016 [33] | |
| Milinko Pantić | 31 August 2016 | Sergio Piernas Cárdenas | 31 August 2016 [34] | |
| 6 September 2016 | 6 September 2016 [35] | |||
The number of foreign players is limited to three per CL1 team.Teams can use three foreign players on the field each game.
Players name in bold indicates the player is registered during the mid-season transfer window.
Hong Kong/Macau/Taiwan outfield players (Contracts signed before 1 January 2016 do not count for the foreign player slot):[36]
