DgcityDalian Yingbo lifted the Chinese Super League trophy on Sunday after one of the most improbable title runs in the competition’s history, beating Tianjin Jinmen Tiger 3-1 at a sold-out Suoyuwan Football Stadium while long-time leaders Chengdu Rongcheng crumbled 3-2 away to Shandong Taishan.
Yang Mingrui gave the home side a dream start in the fifth minute, sweeping home in front of 60,000 fans. Xadas pulled Tianjin level from the penalty spot five minutes into the second half, and for long stretches the scores elsewhere threatened to break Dalian hearts. Liao Jintao eased the tension with a finish from the edge of the area with 20 minutes remaining, and Huang Shan tapped in during stoppage time to touch off the celebrations.
The scale of the turnaround is hard to overstate. Back in June, after 16 rounds, Chengdu sat atop the table with Dalian 18 points behind in third. Even with five matches left in the season the gap was 14 points. Dalian then reeled off five consecutive victories, including a head-to-head win over Chengdu in the penultimate round, while John Aloisi’s side collected just one point from its final five games and lost its last four in a row.
The two clubs finished level on 52 points, and Dalian took the crown on the superior head-to-head record, having beaten Chengdu twice over the campaign. The collapse became the story of the season in China, with the Australian coach’s team the object of sympathy and disbelief in equal measure.
For Dalian, the title caps a rise that belongs to another era of the sport. The club was only founded in 2021 and climbed through the domestic tiers with a speed rarely seen in a league dominated by better-resourced city rivals. Five years after establishment, and playing in snow-dusted conditions on the final day, a young squad under Li Guozu delivered the port city its first Super League crown.
Attention now turns to next season’s continental commitments, where China’s newest champions will test that depth against the best clubs in the region. For one night in Dalian, though, the only thought was how far the club had travelled, and how quickly.
