Years go by like a shuttle, in the blink of an eye 26 years of spring and autumn flow, those who have sweated on the field of the veterans of the new elite, no matter they are a long time in the field of the team's pillars, or with dreams of young talent, have unloaded the gowns, embarked on the journey of retirement.
In 2017, Zhou Ting, a veteran, returned to his hometown and joined Dalian Football Club to fight for his hometown. The ageless god of war helped the team break through in that year, but experienced a stormy 2018 season, the team unfortunately relegated. However, in 2019, Zhou Ting, who is nearly 40 years old, resolutely continued to play in the Chinese Super League, becoming the only post-70 player on the field. After his retirement, he made a brief comeback, holding both coaching and playing positions at Dalian Jinshiwan, and later found his place in the coaching staff of Dalian Professional Football Club's U19 ladder team. Now, he has joined Dalian Yingbo Football Club as the head coach of the U19 team.
During those years, Chow Ting's buddies also went their separate ways. Now, let's take a look and see where these former comrades are today!
Sun Jihai, a player who made his debut in A-A in '95, has not only become a mainstay of the team, but also one of the most successful study abroad players in the history of Chinese soccer. He is now working on youth soccer training in deep cooperation with Dalian Jinpu New District.
A group of friends, including Wang Peng, Wu Jun and An Qi, have been playing for the first team since '96 and co-founded the youth-oriented Moonbird Football Club, which has delivered a lot of talent to Dalian soccer. Now, An Qi is working for Chinese First Division team Shijiazhuang and served as acting coach last season.
Chen Dong, who joined the first team in '96, was Han Wenhai's understudy and became Dalian Shide's starting goalkeeper in 2001 and 2005. Now, he has become the general manager of Dalian Yingbo Football Club. Li Guoxu, who joined the first team in the same year, is now the head coach of Dalian Yingbo's first team.
Liu Hongyi, who joined the Dalian Wanda first team in '98, quickly became a starter, scoring his first career goal in a 7-0 away win over Wuhan Yaqi. However, injuries put an end to his career early on, and he went on to work in soccer-related jobs, working for a number of clubs and successfully passing the CFA Level D Coaching Instructor Exam.
Wang Feng, who suffered a major setback after joining the first team in '96, ended his career prematurely due to the alleged 11.2 match-fixing controversy. In recent years, he has faded from the public eye.
Zhang Gang, a former Dalian Wanda first-team player, is now committed to school soccer.
