Changchun Yatai Football Club (Chinese: 长春亚泰足球俱乐部; pinyin: Chángchūn Yàtài Zúqiú Jùlèbù) is a Chinese professional football club based in Changchun, Jilin, that competes in China League One, the second tier of Chinese football. Changchun Yatai plays its home matches at the Changchun Stadium, located within Nanguan District. The club's founder and main investor is the private Chinese conglomerate Jilin Yatai Group.
The club was formed on 6 June 1996, before making their debut in the third tier of China's football league pyramid in the 1997 league season. In 2000, they bought a position into the second division after they merged with Huizhou PLA Saonon. In 2001, they finished as runners-up within their division. However, they were denied promotion after they were embroiled in a match-fixing scandal. The club would reform and re-apply for a CFA playing license before they eventually gained promotion to China's top flight at the end of the 2005 league campaign. In the 2007 Chinese Super League, they won the league title and participated in the 2008 AFC Champions League for the first time. They have since gone on to come in second at the 2009 Chinese Super League and also participated in the 2010 AFC Champions League.
Contents
History
Changchun Yatai was founded on 6 June 1996, by local conglomerate Jilin Yatai Group in Changchun, Jilin, to take part in the league system that was fully professionalized recently, which allowed private enterprises to own their own clubs. The club would select a dragon kicking a ball as their crest while assembling the club's senior team. And to make sure they had a competitive youth system, they also brought in the best youth players from Shenyang before moving them into their recently created football training base at a cost of two million yuan, while the total cost of starting the whole enterprise would end up being 20 million yuan. For the next several seasons, the club achieved very little until they bought a position into the second tier when the club took over Huizhou PLA Saonon at the beginning of the 2000 league season for fifteen million yuan, while during the season the team maintained an unbeaten home record but still finished in a disappointing fifth at the end of the season. The following season, the club's manager, Yin Tiesheng, looked like he could improve upon last years results when he guided the club to a runners-up position and what looked like promotion to the top tier for the first time. However, it was soon discovered that the 6 October 2001, game that Changchun won 6–0 against Zhejiang Green Town was fixed. This saw the club denied promotion and had all offending participants banned for a year, while the club had three months to reform and re-apply for a CFA playing license. Despite this, Yin Tiesheng stayed on and promoted future Chinese internationals Du Zhenyu, Zhang Xiaofei, and Cao Tianbao from the club's youth team, which was assembled from Shenyang, into the senior team. These players in 2003 would go on to win the Jia B (second level) title, but the club was not promoted due to the creation of the Super League.
Yin Tiesheng would leave the club in 2004 to take the Chinese U20 head coach position and Chen Jingang was brought in as the new manager. Within his reign, Chen Jingang guided the club to a runner-up spot in the China League One division in 2005 and promotion to the Super League. In the club's debut season, they finished fourth. However, Chen Jingang was relieved of his duties after he lost it in the dressing room by threatening to dock player wagers if he was unsatisfied with their performances. In 2007, Gao Hongbo was brought in as the new manager and in his debut season, he won the Chinese Super League title with them. This would see Changchun allowed entry to the 2008 AFC Champions League for the first time, along with Beijing Guoan, and played their first game against Vietnamese football club Bình Dương on 12 March 2008, in a 2–1 victory While the club finished the group runners-up only, one team was allowed to go through the knock out stages and the club crashed out of the tournament. This, unfortunately, affected the club's league performance and Gao Hongbo was fired during the season.
Players
First-team squad
As of July 2026
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Reserves squad
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Retired numbers
12 – Club Supporters (the 12th Man) retired in 2017.
Out on loan
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Coaching staff
Managerial history
As of 17 April 2024.
Honours
League
Chinese Super League
Champions: 2007
Runners-up: 2009
China League One/Jia-B League
Champions: 2003, 2020
Runners-up: 2001, 2005
Results
All-time League rankings
As of the end of the 2023 season.
Did not enter in the 1998 campaign.
^1 In group stages. ^2 Promotion to Jia-A league was cancelled due to match fixing. ^3 No promotion.
Key