The 2022 Dalian Professional F.C. season was the 13th season in club history.
Overview Preseason On 16 February, the team regrouped for winter training. Sun Wei, Zhou Ting and Liu Yujian served as temporary managers.
On 12 March, Dalian Pro announced major changes in its owners. Wanda Group decided to quit, and the team would be taken over temporarily by a government-led reforming work team. Past debts and operating costs of the first team, youth training facilities and projects for the next three years would still be covered by Wanda Group through a sponsor contract. The Dalian Pro Academy Base was donated to DETA Holdings (Chinese:德泰控股), a state-invested company in Dalian. After the announcement, Dalian Pro publicly recruited for head coaches and professional players.
On 19 March, Xie Hui was announced the team's new manager.
As Wanda quit the club's operation, Dalian Pro further tightened their expenses by cutting players' salaries. Due to this issue, Zhao Xuri, Zheng Long and Tao Qianglong left the team on free transfer, while Li Shuai and Sun Bo terminated their contracts through CFA arbitrations. On the other hand, Dalian Pro signed multiple free, experienced players for replenishment, many of which were born in Dalian. Until 5 May when player registration was submitted, Larsson, Danielson and Boateng were not in squad, indicating that domestic players would be the only choice of Dalian for the first few rounds of the 2022 season.
In May, it was reported that Dalian Pro U-21 team would compete separately as Dalian Jinshiwan F.C. The team was able to participate in the 2022 Chinese Champions League through qualification rounds. Liu Yujian remained as the head coach, while Zhou Ting was registered as both player and coach of the team.
On 24 May, Chongqing Liangjiang Athletic announced their end of operation. On 26 May, it was reported that Dalian Pro's back into the 2022 Chinese Super League was approved. Dalian Pro would replace Chongqing, to play in Haikou, Hainan.
June Though being considered the team with the most relegation possibility for lack of foreign players and CLO-level transfers, Dalian Pro gained much appreciation through their first few matches for Xie Hui's aggressive formation and pressing tactics. The team were able to suppress teams with 4 foreign players with fully-domestic startup, which was considered almost impossible in the past few seasons. Newly joined elder players like Yan Xianghcuang, Fei Yu and Shang Yin had above-expectation performances. However, a mistake in player substitution occurred during the match against Guangzhou City, leading to a 47-second match time without U-23 players for Dalian Pro, which flawed the almost-perfect league start. The opponent submitted complaint case to the CFA after the match. While Dalian Pro claimed that Shan Huanhuan's injury during the U-23 national team callup allowed them to neglect the U-23 rule, their 2–0 victory was finally re-judged to a 0–3 defeat.
July-Interval 1 For the first time since 2020, the second stage of the 2022 CSL would return to its normal Home-Away fixtures, instead of closed-door matches held in a selected city. Dalian Pro temporarily relocated their home stadium to Puwan Stadium (普湾体育场), a newly built stadium, while Shanghai Port and Shanghai Shenhua would use Dalian Sports Center and Jinzhou Stadium as their temporary home stadium due to special pandemic regulations in Shanghai.
Two foreign players trained with the team during the interval, Borislav Tsonev and Streli Mamba.
August On 18 August, Dalian Pro announced the withdrawn of their transfer ban. On 21 August, 2 foreign players and 4 domestic players joined the team. Also, Dalian Pro extended the contract with Xie Hui for 3 years. By the end of mid-season transfer window, the team signed two more foreign players Manzoki and Bosančić to strengthen the squad.
Dalian Jinshiwan ranked 1st in the 2022 CMCL group K, and further qualified into the CMCL finals. Li Jiahao scored 6 goals to won the best goal scorer in group k.
September Tsonev scored his debut goal against Mezhou Hakka. He had goals in all of his first 4 matches.
On 1 September, the team won Shenzhen by 5–1, to become the largest win in team history, comparing to the 5–2 victory against Shandong Luneng in 2012 (round 18).
According to the team, Manzoki and Bosancic arrived in China on 30 August and 4 September, respectively.
Due to regional COVID restrictions in Dalian, rounds 16 through 20 were postponed.
Since the middle of September, a few players of the same agent including Lin Liangming, Tong Lei, Wu Wei, and Shan Huanhuan, were reported to have contract disputes with the club. They were removed from the starting lineups. As reported, the team would like to further reduce salaries with these players, which was the major cause of this dispute. By the end of the month, Lin Liangming, ranking as the team's top goal scorer at the time, reached consensus with the team, but the other three players were still absent from the squad.
The team had some difficulties switching to new formations with new players. Bosancic had partial Achilles tendon rupture in his second match, and would be absent for quite a few months.
October Round 23 to 25 were postponed due to multiple concerns regarding the 20th National Congress of the CCP.
In the October 31 match against Wuhan Yangtze River, Dalian Pro were awarded the first penalty kick in this season.
As of the end of October, the team acquired 25 points, and constantly maintained a pleasant 10-point gap above the relegation zone.
November After acquiring a winning from Hebei, Dalian Pro maintained a 21-point gap above the relegation zone (36 points vs 15 points at the time). With 6 matches to play, Dalian Pro were safe from relegation. After the key victory, it was reported that Mamba and Manzoki returned home.
December As for the 9 Dec victory from Shanghai Shenhua, Dalian Pro remained undefeated for 7 matches, and had a 4-match winning streak, which the team had never experienced in the Chinese Super League. Previously in the 2012 season, Dalian was undefeated for 6 matches, while the longest super league winning streak was 3 matches (2012, 2013, 2018, 2019).
Dalian Pro reported physical issues of multiple players, and promoted 7 players from U-19 team temporarily before the match against Wuhan Yangtze River.
The CFA declared Tianjin JM Tiger to lose for the Dec. 27 match, as Tianjin were unable to play due to COVID infections.
Squad First team squad
No.NameNat.Place of BirthDate of Birth (Age)JoinedFromNoteGoalkeepers1Zhang Chongc Dalian2013Dalian Shide30Wu Yan YangzhouMid 2022Shaanxi Chang'an Athletic32Kudirat Ablet Yining2021 GondomarDefenders2Lin Longchang Dalian2022Guizhou3Shan Pengfei Dalian2012Dalian Yifang youth6Wang Xianjun Dalian2020Dalian Pro youth8Zhu Ting 4c Dalian2022Qingdao11Sun Guowen Dalian2013Dalian Shide13Wang Yaopeng Dalian2014Liaoning youth14Huang Jiahui Bozhou2019Dalian Yifang youth16Tong Lei Quzhou2020Zhejiang Greentown18He Yupeng Anshan2019Dalian Yifang youth22Dong Yanfeng Dalian2016Liaoning youth24Liu Le BeijingMid 2022Dalian Huayi44Vas Nuñez HongkongMid 2022Meizhou HakkaMidfielders5Wu Wei Xinxiang2020Tianjin Tianhai7Lin Liangming Shantou2020 Gondomar10Borislav Tsonev BlagoevgradMid 2022 Chornomorets Odesa19Wang Zhen'ao Wuhan2020Dalian Pro youth20Wang Tengda Dalian2020Dalian Pro youth21Gui Zihan DalianMid 2022Tianjin Jinmen Tiger26Cui Ming'an Dalian2014Dalian Yifang youth28Fei Yu Shanghai2022Nantong Zhiyun31Lü Peng3c Dalian2022Qingdao33Song Zhiwei Dalian2022Wuhan Yangtze River35Wang Yu Dalian2021Dalian Pro youth37Ning Hao Qingdao2022Liaoning Shenyang Urban38Lü Zhuoyi Guangzhou2022Dalian Pro youth 40Nemanja Bosančić PristinaMid 2022 FC LahtiForwards9Shan Huanhuan Pingdingshan2019 Vitória Guimarães B17Streli Mamba GöppingenMid 2022 FC Kairat23Shang Yin Shanghai2022Jiangxi Beidamen25Feng Zeyuan Guilin2022Dalian Pro youth39Yan Xiangchuangvc Dalian2022Beijing BSU 45Lobi Manzoki BuniaMid 2022 Vipers SCLeft or un-registered during the season12Zhang Jiansheng Xingtai2020Dalian Pro youthLoaned out15Zhao Jianbo Dalian2020Dalian Pro youthChina U–2136Wang Jinshuai Dalian2021Dalian Pro youthChina U–21Temporarily joined since 23 December46Xiao Zhiren Guangzhou2022Dalian Pro youth47Zhao Jia'nan Zhengzhou2022Dalian Pro youth48Elkut Eysajan Ili2022Dalian Pro youth49Chen Yongze Putian2022Dalian Pro youth51Li Jiaxiang Harbin2022Dalian Pro youth54Ren Jian Wuhan2022Dalian Pro youth55Chen Chenzhenyang Guiyang2022Dalian Pro youth
Coaching staff
PositionNameNotesFirst teamHead coach Xie HuiAssistant coach Ng Wai ChiuAssistant coach Chang LinGoalkeeping coach Everton da Rocha SantosFitness coach Alex Ros CladellaTactical Analyst Aitor Calero GarciaTeam doctorReserve and youth teamsReserve (U-23) coach David Rivas MartínezU-21 coach Liu YujianU-21 assistant coach Zhou TingU-19 coach Sun WeiU-17 coach Zhang YaokunU-17 assistant coach Zou PengU-17 assistant coach Li WenboU-15 coach Zhao PengU-15 assistant coach Chi YaojunU-14 coach Li YangU-15 assistant coach Zou JieU-13 coach Wang Zhaochen
Transfers Pre-season In Name Age Moving from Type Transfer feeDate Notes -MF Han Peijiang21 Xi'an WolvesLoan Return—1 January17FW Zhang Jiansheng20 Beijing BSULoan Return—1 January27DF Yang Pengju20 Beijing BSULoan Return—1 January23GK Li Xuebo21 Zibo CujuLoan Return—1 January -MF Zheng Bofan26 Beijing BSULoan Return—1 January -MF Liu Yingchen28 Dandong TengyueLoan Return—1 January 8DF Zhu Ting36 QingdaoTransferFree22 April 2DF Lin Longchang32 Guizhou TransferFree22 April 31MF Lü Peng32 QingdaoTransferFree22 April 28MF Fei Yu31 Nantong ZhiyunTransferFree22 April 37MF Ning Hao37 Liaoning Shenyang UrbanTransferFree22 April 39FW Yan Xiangchuang35 Beijing BSUTransferFree22 April 23FW Shang Yin33 Jiangxi BeidamenTransferFree22 April 33MF Song Zhiwei33 Wuhan Yangtze RiverTransferFree28 April -MF Chen Chenzhenyang18 Beijing WandaTransferFree22 AprilU-21 team -MF Li Jiahao20 ZhejiangTransferFree22 AprilU-21 team -MF Zhong Yunxing21 Real Avilés BTransferFree22 AprilU-21 team -MF Elkut Eysajan18 Shandong TaishanTransferFree28 AprilU-21 team
Out NameAgeMoving toTypeTransfer feeDateNotes37DF Yang Haoyu21 Hubei IstarEnd of Loan——25MF Jailson Siqueira26 PalmeirasReleasedFree8 January6MF Zhu Xiaogang34 Guangxi YichengTransferFree20 March20MF Wang Jinxian26 Changchun YataiTransferFree8 April24MF Tao Qianglong20 Wuhan ThreetownsTransferFree27 April7MF Zhao Xuri36 Sichuan JiuniuTransferFree28 April 31MF Zheng Long32 Qingdao HainiuTransferFree28 April 12GK Xu Jiamin28 Tianjin Jinmen TigerTransferFree28 April -FW Chen Rong21 Liaoning Shenyang UrbanLoan—28 April40MF Zhu Jiaxuan23 Liaoning Shenyang UrbanLoan—28 April -MF Zhang Zimin21 Nanjing CityTransferFree28 April -GK Li Xuebo22 Zibo CujuLoan—28 April -MF Chen Zhinan21 Guangxi Pingguo HaliaoTransfer—28 April -MF Zhang Zimin22 Nanjing CityTransfer—28 April30DF Marcus Danielson33 Djurgårdens IFReleased—18 July10MF Sam Larsson29 AntalyasporReleased—18 July21FW Emmanuel Boateng26 Rio AveReleased—17 August
Mid-season In NameAgeMoving fromTypeTransfer feeDateNotes 10MF Borislav Tsonev27 Chornomorets OdesaTransferFree21 August 17FW Streli Mamba28 FC KairatTransferFree21 August 30GK Wu Yan33 Shaanxi Chang'an AthleticTransferFree21 August 21MF Gui Zihan19 Tianjin Jinmen TigerTransferFree21 August24DF Liu Le33 Dalian HuayiTransferFree21 August44DF Vas Nuñez26 Meizhou HakkaTransferFree21 August45FW Lobi Manzoki25 Vipers SCTransfer€200k25 August40MF Nemanja Bosančić27 FC LahtiTransfer€100k30 August -MF Zhu Jiaxuan23 Liaoning Shenyang UrbanLoan return—1 August
Out NameAgeMoving toTypeTransfer feeDateNotes4DF Li Shuai26 Shanghai PortReleasedFree1 August12MF Zhang Jiansheng22 Shaanxi Chang'an AthleticLoan—8 August27DF Yang Pengju21 Zibo CujuLoan—9 August29MF Sun Bo31 Heilongjiang Ice CityReleased—31 August40MF Zhu Jiaxuan23 Heilongjiang Ice CityLoan—31 August