The wind and snow welcome the championship, and the glory returns to the city - a side note of Dalian Yingbo's crowning as the Chinese Super League champion

China News Service, Dalian, November 8th. Title: The wind and snow welcome the championship, and the glory returns to the city - a side note of Dalian Yingbo's crowning as the Chinese Super League champion.

China News Service reporter Yang Yi

Snow drifted across the Barracuda Bay football field, and cheers pierced the cold wind. On November 8, the dust settled in the final match of the 2026 Chinese Super League. Dalian Yingbo completed a counterattack and won the Vulcan Cup. This is the first time since 2005 that Dalian has reached the top of the top Chinese football league after 21 years.

During the award ceremony, the white snow in the sky added a different kind of romance to the celebration. The players hugged each other tightly, patted each other's shoulders, cried and smiled, and celebrated this glorious moment with tens of thousands of fans in the stands. Many old fans lamented, "Dalian has been waiting for this day for 21 years."

Looking back at the entire season, it was a counterattack journey full of resilience. In the middle of this season, Dalian Yingbo was once as much as 18 points behind the top spot. The outside world is generally not optimistic about the prospects of this new team's championship. However, the team fought hard to win one game after another, and played a strong five-game winning streak at the end of the league. They just kept the suspense of the championship until the last round, and finally staged a shocking comeback on the final day and won the Chinese Super League championship this season.

This climb to the top is a great accumulation of experience in Dalian, the "football city".

Dalian is known as the "Football City" in Chinese football. This northeastern coastal city has written countless brilliance and produced generations of international players, leaving behind a series of highlight memories recorded in the annals of Chinese football: Dalian Wanda and Dalian Shide won China's top league championships a total of 8 times and set a "myth" of 55 unbeaten games... Along the way, Dalian football has gone through several ups and downs, experienced team changes, and the professional track has been disconnected for a long time.

In the midst of the trough, it was against this background that Dalian Yingbo broke ground and grew. The club was established at the end of 2021, and then successively completed promotion to the second, first and super leagues. In 2025, it successfully avoided relegation in 11th place in the Chinese Super League for the first time. After entering the Chinese Super League, it stood on the highest podium in the second season. It only took Dalian Yingbo five years from the establishment of the club to winning the Chinese Super League.

This climb to the top highlights the characteristics that Football City has always had.

For a long time, the glory of the top league championship gradually faded away, but football never left the city. Street courts, green campuses, and amateur football matches are popular all year round; in the stands, gray-haired old fans sit side by side with childish teenagers, and the love passed down from generation to generation has never stopped.

Even in a trough, Dalian's football soil is still fertile. The local youth training system continues to provide reserve talents for Chinese football, and supporting football venues continue to be improved. In 2023, the country's first Barracuda Bay football stadium, surrounded by the sea on three sides, was officially put into use. Since then, it has repeatedly broken the game attendance record. In the final game of the game, a total of 62,619 fans came to cheer and cheer, once again setting a new record in the team's history. For Dalian people, football is not just a sport, it is a city label, a collective feeling, and a lifestyle integrated into the city's temperament.

Winning the top league crown is a glorious return and a new starting point. It proves that the profound football heritage will not dissipate over time. Taking root in youth training, adhering to love, and down-to-earth hard work will eventually bear fruit.