2021 Beijing Sinobo Guoan F.C. season

On 2 January, Toni Šunjić completed his transfer to Henan Jianye, the team he played for on loan after joining Guoan in the summer of 2020.[2] He did not cap for Guoan.

On 6 January, Guoan announced Slaven Bilić, former manager of the Croatian national team, West Ham United and West Bromwich Albion as the team's new manager.[3] The team's contract with former manager Bruno Génésio lapsed at the end of the last season and was not renewed.[4]

22 January saw Kim Min-Jae arrive in Guangzhou to begin his COVID-19 quarantine according to Chinese government regulations amid transfer rumors.[5][6] He was the first foreign player to return ahead of the season. Bilić and his coaching staff landed in Hangzhou on 25 January for quarantine.[7] Guoan's first training camp for the season began on 25 January in Kunming with only 11 first team players as many foreign players have yet to return or are undergoing quarantine according to Chinese regulations, and 7 first team members are training with the Chinese national team in Haikou.[5][7] Chinese coaching staff are leading the training camp alongside reserve team players.[7]

On 14 December, 2020, the Chinese Football Association officially mandated that all clubs must remove references to investors and the companies that own them in their name and instead adopt "neutral" names before the beginning of the 2021 season.[8][9] Under this regulation, Guoan need to drop Sinobo, a Chinese real estate investment company and the club's majority owner, from its name.[10] Further, the club must change its name, Guoan, as CITIC Guoan Group still owns partial share in the club.

The club, its owners, and its fans have objected the name change as all parties feel the name "Guoan" is part of the club's identity.[11] All clubs must submit their new name to the Chinese FA for approval by 31 December, 2020; instead of submitting a new name, Guoan submitted a petition to delay name change on the grounds that Sinobo Group is negotiating a deal to purchase the club's remaining shares from CITIC Guoan.[12] If the purchase is completed, the name "Guoan" will no longer directly reference the club's owner, which may avert the need for a new club name.[12]

On 21 January, reports emerged that the Chinese FA demanded Guoan to show concrete proof of the purchase negotiation process by 31 January, otherwise the club must adopt a different name for the upcoming season.[13] Further difficulties during the purchase negotiations process was reported on 26 January. 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.[14]

On 29 January, the China Beijing Equity Exchange published a notice outlining the club's intended ownership transfer from CITIC to Sinobo for ￥1, successfully meeting Chinese FA's 31 January deadline. However, reports emerged on 3 February that the ownership transfer would require Sinobo to shoulder an additional debt of ￥600 million, stalling the transfer and increasingly the likelihood that the club would have to take up a new name.[15]