Dalian Yingbo Football Club (), currently known as Dalian Yingbo Ocean Development () for sponsorship reasons, is a Chinese professional football club based in Dalian, Liaoning, that competes in . Dalian Yingbo plays its home matches at the Dalian Suoyuwan Football Stadium, located within Ganjingzi District.
History The team was founded on 24 December 2021 as Dalian Duxing Football Club () by a group of former Dalian Shide players led by Chen Dong, who became the club's general manager. The team attracted many Dalian players who previously played at local teams such as Dalian Aerbin and Dalian Transcendence, many of which had Chinese Super League appearances.
In the 2022 season, Dalian Duxing started in the Chinese Champions League. The team placed first in Group I of the regional competition and made it to the final round, where they finished third, and went on to win the promotion play-offs to acquire promotion into China League Two.
At the beginning of the 2023 season, the team changed to a neutralised name Dalian Zhixing Football Club (), as requested by the Chinese Football Association, and signed more players from Dalian. Dalian Zhixing finished second in the 2023 China League Two season, to gain promotion into China League One. However, the investors of the team, the Dalian Shanhai Group, were involved in illegal fundraising cases. This meant that the club lost their funding, and was put into a forced auction in December 2023. On 15 December, it was confirmed that Dalian Tongshun Construction Engineering Co., which has run an amateur team Dalian Tongshun Construction F.C. since 2014, completed the acquisition.
On 29 January 2024, the team was renamed as Dalian Yingbo Football Club, which was adopted from a pool of names in a naming contest. The new owners completed the renaming process, obtained league registration, and recruited new players within a single month.
The club recorded the highest attendances in China League One history, with eight of the top ten best-attended matches in the division belonging to Dalian Yingbo. On 3 November 2024, in the final match of the season against Shanghai Jiading Huilong, Zhu Pengyu scored a header in the 90th minute to secure a 2–1 victory and confirm promotion to the Chinese Super League. The match was attended by 60,951 spectators, setting a new attendance record for China League One and becoming the second match in the division's history to exceed 60,000 attendees. The victory completed a three-level jump from the fourth tier to the top flight in three seasons.
Following promotion, the club underwent a mixed-ownership restructuring in December 2024. While Tongshun Group remained the controlling shareholder, two state-owned enterprises Dalian Zhangzidao Marine Development Group (海发集团) and Dalian Huipu Financial Holdings (汇融集团) joined as minority shareholders.
Players First-team squad
B-team squad
Out on loan
Coaching staff PositionNameHead coach Li GuoxuAssistant coach Marko RudanAssistant coach Li GangAssistant coach Liu YujianAssistant coach He ZehaoGoalkeeping coach Zang YongliangFitness coach Zheng TaoFitness coach Zhao HaibinB-Team head coach Zhou TingB-Team assistant coach Xu NingB-Team assistant coach Zhu XiaogangB-Team assistant coach Yan XiangchuangB-Team goalkeeping coach Yin Haibin
Head coach history
Li Guoxu (2022–present)
Honours
China League One Runners-up: 2024 China League Two Runners-up: 2023 CMCL Play-off winners: 2022
Season-by-season record YearDivisionFA CupHome stadiumAverage attendance2022496122371619 4th ↑DNQ2023322145330121847 2nd ↑R2Jinzhou Stadium1,6392024230176744291557 2nd ↑R3Dalian Suoyuwan Football Stadium42,187202513099123045–153611thR16Dalian Suoyuwan Football Stadium58,268
+Key↑ Promoted DNQ = Did not qualify R2 = Second round R3 = Third round R16 = Round of 16
References
External links Dalian Yingbo F.C. at Weibo