Yunnan Yukun Football Club () is a Chinese professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

club based in Yuxi,

Yunnan Yunnan , () is a landlocked Provinces of China, province in Southwest China, the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is ...

, that competes in . Yunnan Yukun plays its home matches at the Yuxi Plateau Sports Center Stadium, located within Hongta District. Founded in 2021, Yunnan Yukun gained two successive promotions to go from the fourth-tier of Chinese football to the second between 2022 and 2023, winning the title in the fourth tier in

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

in the process.

History

Founded as Yunnan Yukun Steel Football Club on 31 July 2021 by Yuxi Education Investment Co., Ltd., the club entered the 2021 Chinese Champions League, with

Zhu Jiong Zhu Jiong (Chinese:朱炯, born August 5, 1973) is a Chinese football manager and a former player. Club career Zhu Jiong began his career playing for Shanghai Shenhua youth team and would graduate to the senior team during the dawn of full profe ...

as the club's head coach. Yunnan Yukun Steel were eventually knocked out in the finals in a group that consisted of Jinan Xingzhou and Jiangsu Zhongnan Codion. The club was reformed in 2022 as Yuxi Yukun Steel Football Club by organisations which included the Yunnan Yuxi Yukun Steel Group, in a bid to secure promotion to

China League Two The Chinese Football Association Division Two League (Simplified Chinese: 中国足球协会乙级联赛), or China League Two, is the third tier league of the People's Republic of China. The league is under the auspices of the Chinese Football As ...

, the Chinese third-tier. Led by

player-manager A player-coach (also playing coach, captain-coach, or player-manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. A player-coach may be a head coach or an assistant coach. They may make changes to the sq ...

Shi Jun, Yukun progressed from their regional group in the 2022 Chinese Champions League to go into the final round. The club went on to become champions of the league on 20 November 2022 as they defeated Chongqing Tongliangloong over a penalty shoot-out after a two-legged tie, while confirming their spot in China League Two. At the end of pre-season in 2023, Yuxi Yukun Steel appointed Niu Hongli as the club's new manager for the coming 2023 China League Two season. On 21 March 2023, the club changed its name to Yunnan Yukun Football Club. On 20 June 2023, following a 3–1 loss at Hainan Star, Niu Hongli resigned as manager, and Shi Jun would return to the club as his replacement. In the South Group, after 14 games, Yunnan Yukun were placed third, thus progressing to the promotion stage. Less than three months after his managerial appointment, Shi Jun resigned as manager on 5 September with eight points to a promotion place and only five league games remaining, and Li Jinyu was appointed as Yunnan Yukun manager on 7 September. Yunnan Yukun finished third place in the promotion stage, one place short for promotion to

China League One The Chinese Football Association China League (), also known as China League One or Chinese Jia League (中甲联赛), is the second level of professional football in China. Above League One is the Chinese Super League. Prior to the formation of ...

. Following the dissolutions of

Dalian Pro Dalian Professional Football Club () is a professional Chinese Association football, football club based in Dalian, Liaoning, that participates in the China League One, China Super League under licence from the Chinese Football Association (CFA) ...

and

Shenzhen Shenzhen (; ; ; ), also historically known as Sham Chun, is a major sub-provincial city and one of the special economic zones of China. The city is located on the east bank of the Pearl River estuary on the central coast of southern province ...

, two clubs that have finished higher than them in the Chinese football pyramid, Yunnan Yukun were one club's disqualification away from gaining entry into

, so as to make up the numbers. In January 2024, Dandong Tengyue player

Li Xiaoting Li Xiaoting (; born 3 January 1989 in Dalian) is a Chinese football player who currently plays for China League One side Jiangxi Liansheng F.C., Jiangxi Liansheng. Club career Li started systemic football training in 2000 when he attended Dalian ...

accused Yunnan Yukun on social media of "bribing Dandong to dissolve," in order for Yunnan Yukun to be promoted to China League One as a result. After reportedly undergoing investigation, Yunnan Yukun were allegedly confirmed to have not taken part in any transactions, but were admitted into China League One nonetheless, due to Dandong Tengyue's withdrawal from the league, independent of the influence from Yunnan Yukun. The winter pre-season of 2024 saw Yunnan Yukun bring in former international footballers

Zakaria Labyad Zakaria Labyad ( Riffian-Berber: ⵣⴰⵎⴰⵔⵉⵢⴰ ⵍⴱⵢⴰⴷ; born 9 March 1993) is a professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder. Born in the Netherlands, he represented that nation at under-17 level before switch ...

from

FC Utrecht Football Club Utrecht () is a Dutch professional football club based in Utrecht. The club competes in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football, and plays its home matches at the Stadion Galgenwaard. The club was formed in 1970 as a merge ...

Nyasha Mushekwi Nyasha Mushekwi (born 21 August 1987) is a Zimbabwean professional footballer who plays for Chinese Super League club Zhejiang Greentown. Career Born in Harare, Mushekwi started out playing for CAPS United in his homeland Zimbabwe. He won th ...

from

Zhejiang Zhejiang ( or , ; , also romanized as Chekiang) is an eastern, coastal province of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Hangzhou, and other notable cities include Ningbo and Wenzhou. Zhejiang is bordered by Jiang ...

, and Alexandru Ioniță from

Rapid București Rapids are sections of a river where the river bed has a relatively steep gradient, causing an increase in water velocity and turbulence. Rapids are hydrological features between a ''run'' (a smoothly flowing part of a stream) and a '' cascade' ...

, as well as various domestic players with

Chinese Super League The Chinese Football Association Super League, commonly known as Chinese Super League or CSL, currently known as the China Ping An Chinese Football Association Super League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest tier of professional football in ...

playing experience to further strengthen their squad and prepare for the 2024 season. Yunnan Yukun received their first point in China League One on the first league game of the season on 9 March 2024, as they drew 0–0 away at Foshan Nanshi. With 17,872 fans in attendance, Yunnan Yukun secured their first win in China League One on 16 March as they defeated 10-men

Nanjing City Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and the second largest city in the East China region. T ...

2–1 on the club's home debut of the season. On 22 May 2024, Li Jinyu resigned as manager, and was eventually replaced by Norwegian

Jørn Andersen Jørn Andersen (born 3 February 1963), sometimes written as Jörn, is a Norwegian-German Association football, football manager and former player. He is the head coach of the Hong Kong national football team, Hong Kong national team. Club caree ...

, who had previously stepped down from his Hong Kong national team head coach position. After Andersen's arrival, he brought in Hong Kong defender

Tsui Wang Kit Tsui Wang Kit (; born 5 January 1997) is a Hong Kong professional footballer who currently plays as a fullback for Hong Kong Premier League club Lee Man. Club career On 10 January 2018, Tsui transferred to China League One side Meizhou Hakka. ...

from Lee Man.

Players

First-team squad

Notable players

The following players had international caps for their respective countries. Africa *

Asia * Shi Jun *

Wang Jingbin Wang Jingbin (; born 9 May 1995) is a Chinese footballer who currently plays for Liaoning Shenyang Urban in the China League One. Club career Wang Jingbin started his football career in when he joined Guizhou Renhe's youth academy in 2010. He ...

Zhao Yuhao Zhao Yuhao (; ; born 7 April 1993) is a Chinese footballer who currently plays for Henan Songshan Longmen in the Chinese Super League. Club career Zhao started his professional football career in 2011 when he was loaned to China League Two club ...

Europe * Alexandru Ioniță

Honours

League * CMCL **Champions:

References

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