the chinese football association super league (chinese: "中国足球协会超级联赛"; pinyin: "zhōngguó zúqiú xiéhuì chāojí liánsài"; usually called chinese super league ("中超联赛") or csl; and known as ping an chinese football association super league for sponsorship reasons) is the highest tier of professional association football in china. it is controlled by the chinese football association.