Dai Lin (; ; born 28 November 1987) is a

Chinese Chinese may refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people identified with China, through nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **Han Chinese, East Asian ethnic group native to China. **'' Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic ...

former footballer who played as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

Club career

Dai Lin started his football career with

Liaoning FC Liaoning Football Club (), officially known as Liaoning Hongyun (), was a professional association football club with a long history in Chinese football. The club can predate their formation to 1953, when Shenyang government sports body joined ex ...

in 2005 and made his debut against

Changsha Ginde Guangzhou City Football Club () was a Chinese professional football club which last competed in the Chinese Super League. The team was based in Guangzhou, Guangdong. The club's name between 2011 and 2020 was Guangzhou R&F, which was short for ' ...

on 14 April 2005 in a 2–0 win. As a versatile player, Dai quickly established himself within the team throughout the 2005 league season and scored his first goal against

Tianjin Teda Tianjin Jinmen Tiger Football Club (), previously Tianjin TEDA (), is a Chinese professional football club based in Tianjin, that competes in . Tianjin Jinmen Tiger plays its home matches at the TEDA Soccer Stadium, located within Binhai. The f ...

on 16 July 2005 in a 1–0 win. He remained with the team for several further seasons when he helped Liaoning to several midtable positions until the 2008 season which saw Liaoning relegated after a disappointing season when they were relegated on the last day of the season. Despite this setback, Dai still attracted the interests from

Bosnian Premier League The Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina (; ; sr-Cyrl, Премијер лига Босне и Херцеговине), officially known as the Wwin League of Bosnia and Herzegovina for sponsorship purposes, is the top tier football leagu ...

side FK Slavija while his transfer listed price stood at £356,212. After deciding not to renew his contract with Liaoning, it was believed that he would train with FK Slavija for the start of the new season while the transfer went through. He went back to China to sign with top tier side

Shanghai Shenhua Shanghai Shenhua Football Club () is a Chinese professional football club based in Shanghai, that competes in . Shanghai Shenhua plays its home matches at the Shanghai Stadium, located within Xuhui District. The owner of Shanghai Shenhua is ...

halfway through the 2009 season after only two months with FK Slavija at a very surprising cut-price deal that saw him go for just £44,000. Dai was quickly inserted into the team and would make his debut in a league game on 2 August 2009 against Jiangsu Sainty where he came on as a substitute for Aleksander Rodić in a 2–2 draw. After that game, he would quickly go on to become a regular member of the team and score his first goal for the club against Tianjin Teda in a league game on 20 September 2009 in a 4–0 victory; however, his poor disciplinary record saw him limited to only twelve games throughout the season. The following season Dai would show more maturity in defence and become a vital member within the team throughout the 2010 league season. This then saw the new manager Xi Zhikang name Dai as the club's new captain at the beginning of the 2011 league season. As the campaign went on, Shanghai would struggle within the league and Dai's performances would come into question after a 2–0 defeat to Shenzhen Ruby on 31 July 2011 when it was discovered that he was having relationship problems. This would eventually see him stripped of the captaincy when

Jean Tigana Amadou Jean Tigana (born 23 June 1955) is a French former football player and manager. A central midfielder, he was renowned as one of the best midfielders in the world during the 1980s. He spent his entire playing career in France, and made 5 ...

arrived at the club at the beginning of the 2012 league season. On 1 January 2014, Dai transferred to fellow

Chinese Super League The Chinese Football Super League (), commonly known as the Chinese Super League or the CSL (), also known as the China Resources Beverage Chinese Football Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Ch ...

side

Shandong Luneng Shandong Taishan Football Club () is a Chinese professional football club based in Jinan, Shandong, that competes in . Shandong Taishan plays its home matches at the Jinan Olympic Sports Center Stadium, located within Lixia District. Their c ...

(now known as Shandong Taishan). He made his debut for the club in a 1–0 win against Harbin Yiteng on 7 March 2014. He would go on to establish himself as an integral member within the team and was part of the squads that won the 2014 Chinese FA Cup and 2020 Chinese FA Cup, both against Jiangsu Suning F.C. He would go on to be used as a squad player within the team and would gain his first league title with the club when he was part of the team that won the

2021 Chinese Super League The 2021 Chinese Super League, officially known as the 2021 Ping An Chinese Football Association Super League () for sponsorship reasons, was the 18th season since the establishment of the Chinese Super League. The league title sponsor is Ping An I ...

title. This would be followed up by him winning the

2022 Chinese FA Cup The 2022 Chinese Football Association Cup, officially known as the Yanjing Beer 2022 Chinese FA Cup () for sponsorship reasons, was the 24th edition of the Chinese FA Cup. The defending champions are Chinese Super League side Shandong Taishan. Th ...

with them the next season. On 13 November 2024, Dai announced his retirement from professional football through his social media account.

International career

After gaining considerable playing time with

, Dai would soon be included into the Chinese under-23 national team and would take part in the 2007 Lunar New Year Cup and the

2007 Toulon Tournament The 2007 Toulon Tournament was the 35th edition of the Toulon Tournament, and was held from 31 May to 9 June. It was won by France national football team, France, after they beat China national under-23 football team, China 3–1 in the final. Res ...

where he twice saw his side lose in the final. He would eventually be called up to the

China national football team The China national football team ( zh, s=中国国家足球队, t=中國國家足球隊, p=Zhōngguó guójiā zúqiú duì), recognised as China PR by FIFA, represents China in men's international association football and is governed by the Ch ...

once he became an integral member of the

's defence and go on to make his debut against

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

on 11 November 2010 where he came on as a substitute in a 1–0 victory.

Career statistics

.戴琳
at sodasoccer.com. Retrieved 2018-08-11

Honours

Club

/ Shandong Taishan *

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

Chinese FA Cup The Chinese FA Cup (, abbreviated as CFA Cup) is the national knockout cup competition in China organized by the Chinese Football Association. The current holders are Shanghai Port, having beaten Shandong Taishan in 2024 for their first title. H ...

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

. *

Chinese FA Super Cup The Chinese FA Super Cup (), formerly named Chinese Football Super Cup (), is a Chinese football super cup competition that takes place every year before the start of the new season. It is contested between the champions of the previous Chinese Su ...

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

References

External links

* *
Player stats
at Sohu.com

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dai, Lin 1987 births Living people Chinese men's footballers Footballers from Dalian China men's international footballers 21st-century Chinese sportsmen Chinese expatriate men's footballers Footballers at the 2008 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers for China FK Slavija Sarajevo players Expatriate men's footballers in Bosnia and Herzegovina Liaoning F.C. players Shanghai Shenhua F.C. players Shandong Taishan F.C. players Chinese Super League players Men's association football defenders