The Aussie caught up in one of world football's craziest title races his own club thought was impossible

Even Dalian Yingbo's head coach did not believe it was possible four games ago. Yet Australian Mark Rudan has found himself celebrating one of the most extraordinary title triumphs in world football.

Former Western Sydney Wanderers boss Rudan, who joined Dalian as an assistant coach in April, is a Chinese Super League champion after Sunday's astonishing final-day twist that denied fellow Australian John Aloisi and Chengdu Rongcheng the title and made global headlines. THE BLAME GAME BEGINS IN CHINA:What really went wrong in John Aloisi's historic title collapse Dalian trailed Chengdu by 14 points with five matches remaining, seemingly destined to finish runners-up.

They even trailed by as much as 18 points with Aloisi and Co. seemingly en route to their maiden CSL championship.

Instead, Dalian won five consecutive matches while Chengdu collected just one point, losing four straight games to surrender a title that had appeared theirs for the taking. Both teams finished on 52 points, with Dalian crowned champions courtesy of their superior head-to-head record, rather than goal difference.

Dalian head coach Li Guoxu struggled to comprehend what had unfolded after his side conquered Tianjin Jinmen Tiger 3-1 while Chengdu lost 3-2 to Shandong Taishan. "If you'd told me four games ago that we would be champions, I wouldn't have believed it myself.

I never even imagined it," he said. "We turned it into reality step by step.

I think that's the beauty of football." Dalian's remarkable achievement culminated in a victory over Tianjin in front of more than 62,000 supporters amid snowfall, while Chengdu suffered defeat to Shandong. It ended a 21-year wait for a Chinese top-flight championship in the football-mad city of Dalian, though it was the club's first in their current guise after being founded in 2021.

Former Manchester City defender and Dalian football legend Sun Jihai added via Zhibo: "I've been involved in many trophy presentations in this city, including the FA Cup, Super Cup and league championships. But this is the most emotional I've ever felt.

It's been such a long time, and the difficulty was enormous."