When Sui Donglu joined the ranks of Yunnan Hongta, the head of the salon was former international footballer Wang Baoshan. Since then, the two have had a close relationship, and in 2003, Sui Donglu joined Hongta on their journey to the last A League. The following year, the Red Towers were suddenly disbanded, and the Chinese Super League qualification went to Chongqing Lifan, with whom Sui Donglu first became involved in the 2004 season.
Difficulty in squeezing into the competition roster led Sui Donglu to start drifting around. He first played a season in the Central League with Jiangsu Suntian, and was signed by Shenzhen Jinwei for a whopping 1.2 million dollars after a solid performance. At this time, it was Wang Baoshan who coached Shenzhen.
After three years in Shenzhen, Sui Donglu moved to Chengdu Tiancheng in the First Division due to serious salary arrears. One season later, he helped Guangzhou R&F reach the Super League. After spending more money on upgrading their squad, Sui went from being a stalwart of the defense to a fringe player in the team, and returned to Chongqing at the end of the 2012 season, where he wore the uniform of Chongqing Lifan for the second time.
In Chongqing's 2014 season, Sui Donglu's backline conceded the fewest goals in the Central League, and when the team's offense was hampered, Sui Donglu would also be pushed up to the front line by the head coach, who scored a total of four goals throughout the season, and the name of the "defender with a knife" quickly spread among Chongqing fans.
However, after assisting the team to return to the Chinese Super League, Sui Donglu's position in the team was once again marginalized. Under foreign coaches such as Zhang Wailong and Bento, he did not get many chances to play, and most of the time he could only serve as a substitute.
Sui Donglu had a turnaround in the 2017 season, playing in place of foreigner Milovic as a starter for a while due to the constraints of the three foreigners and performing consistently.
On July 22, 2017, Chongqing Lifan beat Tianjin Teda 2:1 at home to win 4 straight games. Less than 10 minutes after the start, Sui Donglu was injured in a fight with Cao Yang, but after a simple bandage by the team doctor, he continued to play. At the end of the game, Sui Donglu received 16 stitches, making him a "tough guy" in the eyes of the fans in the mountain city.
Courage is a label that has been used throughout Sui Donglu's career. In Shenzhen Red Diamond, he had 18 stitches in his eyebrow and almost lost the sight in his left eye; when he played in Chengdu, he was hit in the chest by the current international goalkeeper Yan Junling, causing a serious "hemopneumothorax", which was later drained in the hospital before he got out of danger.
Sui Donglu said in an interview, "playing defender, you must have a kind of temperament, to let the other side of the striker afraid of you, he is afraid of you, defense is much better; on the contrary, let the other side of the striker to play at will, then you this defender also failed."
At the end of the 2018 season, Sui Donglu said goodbye to Chongqing Lifan, where he played for six years, making 109 appearances for the team and contributing eight goals.In the 2019 season, Sui Donglu joined Henan Jianye. At the age of 36, he reached his 100-game milestone in the top flight.
In 2020, due to an epidemic, Sui Donglu was unable to connect with a suitable team, so he had no choice but to retire. A year later, Sui Donglu made his comeback and joined Hebei Kungfu, a China B team where his friends Wang Song and Shi Jun played.
At the end of November 2021, Hebei Kung Fu won 4-1 against Shanghai Jiading Huilong and were promoted to the Central League as the runner-up in the Central League Two. Sui Donglu, who joined in the middle of the season, became the core of the team's defense, contributing 1 goal and 1 assist in 12 appearances.
Sui Donglu signed a short-term contract with Hebei Kungfu, and after assisting the team to reach the first division, he returned to his roots and returned to Dalian. His playing career continued this year when he joined the newly formed Dalian Jinshiwan Football Club to play in the Champions League. In a career spanning two decades, Sui Donglu moved through nine teams before finally donning the colors of his hometown team.
Dalian Jinshiwan is a young team formed at the beginning of 2022, based on some of the players from Dalian People Professional Football Club's U21 ladder and reserve team, supplemented by a number of experienced veterans. The team's head coach is former Dalian Shide player Liu Yujian, and 43-year-old celebrity footballer Zhou Ting has also made a comeback this season as Dalian Jinshiwan's assistant coach and player.
Dalian Jinshiwan was placed in Group K of the Dalian Tournament, along with Anshan Feiyang, Yanbian Sports School and Qingdao Superstar. In the group stage, Dalian Jinshiwan beat Anshan Feiyang and Yanbian Gymnasium 7-0, and Qingdao Superstar 3-0, scoring 17 goals in the three matches without conceding a single goal, to get out of the group.
Dalian Jinshiwan met Dalian Zimao Huayi, who finished second in their group, in the regional cross-elimination tournament. In the first leg, the teams played to a 0-0 draw, with Sui Donglu and Zhou Ting coming on in the 58th minute of the second half, with Sui Donglu hitting the post with a header.
In the second round, the two sides were still playing hard. In the second half, Sui Donglu and Zhou Ting came on as substitutes again, and in the 56th minute, the two veterans linked up, Zhou Ting made a long pass from the backfield, and Sui Donglu scored the only goal of the match with a one-two punch from an offside position. The two veterans, both 82 years old, helped Dalian Jinshiwan win the Dalian Derby and reach the finals of the Chinese Championship.
Due to the downturn in the general environment, many players with experience in the Chinese Super League and Chinese First Division have joined the Champions League this year, and this season's Champions League can be said to be one of the most competitive years in history. Sui Donglu, with his rich experience in promotion, can help his hometown add another team this time?
