Yu Hai (; ; born 4 June 1987) is a Chinese former professional footballer.

Club career

Shaanxi Chanba

Yu Hai started his football career with Shaanxi Chanba in the 2004 season and he made his debut for the club on 16 May 2004 in a 2–2 draw against Qingdao Etsong. Despite predominantly playing as a substitute throughout the season, he played a significant part in Shaanxi's third-place finish at the end of the season. By the following 2005 season, he established as a player with rising potential within the team and was starting in considerably more games within the team.

Vitesse

Before the start of the 2006–07 season, Yu transferred to

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; "Honour Division" or "Premier Division") is a professional association football league in the Netherlands and the highest level of the Dutch football league system. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start o ...

side, Vitesse where he would make his debut for the club on 18 March 2007 in a 2–0 loss against

FC Utrecht Football Club Utrecht () is a Dutch professional association football, football club based in Utrecht. The club competes in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football league system, Dutch football, and plays its home matches at the Stadion ...

. His time at Vitesse proved unsuccessful as he was unable to establish himself within the team. He was released from Vitesse after the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

due to cruciate ligament damage which he suffered in July 2008.

Return to Shaanxi Chanba

Yu returned to Shaanxi at the start of the 2009 season where he played 29 league games and scored three goals by the end of the season. For the next few seasons, he became a regular for the club; and by the start of the 2012 season, Yu followed the club when it decided to move to Guizhou and rename themselves Guizhou Renhe. On 1 December 2013, Yu scored twice in a 2-0 home win against

Guangzhou Evergrande Guangzhou Football Club (), previously Guangzhou Evergrande (), was a Chinese professional football club based in Guangzhou, Guangdong. Historically, Guangzhou FC played its home matches at various grounds in their home city, most notably at T ...

in the first leg of 2013 Chinese FA Cup final. He scored again in the second leg which ended as a 2-1 away defeat, scoring all 3 goals in a 3-2 aggregated win which saw Renhe win their first major trophy in club history, and prevented Evergrande from winning an unprecedented Treble in Chinese football history, as they had already won the

2013 Chinese Super League The 2013 Chinese Super League was the tenth season since the establishment of the Chinese Super League, the 20th season of a professional football league and the 52nd top-tier league season in China. Guangzhou Evergrande won their third consecut ...

and

2013 AFC Champions League The 2013 AFC Champions League was the 32nd edition of the top-level Asian club football tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), and the 11th under the current AFC Champions League title. The defending champions, Ulsan ...

before the FA Cup final.

Shanghai Port

On 27 February 2015, Yu 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 Shanghai SIPG (later to be renamed as Shanghai Port). He made his debut in a league game and scored his first goal for the club on 7 March 2015 in a 2–1 win against Jiangsu Sainty. By the

2018 Chinese Super League The 2018 Ping An Chinese Football Association Super League () was the 15th season since the establishment of the Chinese Super League. The league title sponsor was Ping An Insurance. Shanghai SIPG won their first top-tier league titles on 7 Nove ...

season the Head coach, Vítor Pereira would convert Yu into a left-back, which saw Shanghai SIPG win their first league title. He won his second Chinese Super League title with Shanghai Port in the 2023 season. On 5 January 2024, Yu announced his retirement from professional football.

International career

Yu was a member of the Chinese under-23 national team and was expected to lead the team in the

; however, he was dropped from the team due to cruciate ligament damage. He eventually graduated to the senior team when he returned to the

and gained regular playing time with Shaanxi Chanba. He made his international debut on 4 June 2009 in a 4–1 loss against

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

. Despite the defeat, Yu would go on to establish himself as a regular and be included in the squad that won the

2010 East Asian Football Championship The 2010 EAFF East Asian Football Championship was the fourth edition of the tournament which was held between 6 and 14 February 2010. Two preliminary competitions were held during 2009. Participating teams Preliminary Round 1 * * * * Round ...

. This would then lead to a call-up for the squad that took part in the

2011 AFC Asian Cup The 2011 AFC Asian Cup was the 15th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The finals were held in Qatar from 7 to 29 January 2011. It was the secon ...

. On 24 December 2014, Yu was named in China's squad for the

2015 AFC Asian Cup The 2015 AFC Asian Cup was the 16th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international association football, football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It was held in Australia from 9 to 31 January 201 ...

. In the team's opening group match, he scored the winning goal, a deflected free kick as China won 1–0 against

Career statistics

Club statistics

International statistics

International goals

:''Scores and results list China's goal tally first.''

Honours

Guizhou Renhe *

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 ...

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

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 ...

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 ...

Shanghai Port *

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

China * East Asian Football Championship:

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

References

External links

* *
Player stats
at Sohu.com
Yu Hai Hyves / Fan website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yu, Hai 1987 births Living people Sportspeople from Luoyang Men's association football wingers Chinese men's footballers Footballers from Henan China men's international footballers 21st-century Chinese sportsmen Chinese expatriate men's footballers SBV Vitesse players Beijing Chengfeng F.C. players Shanghai Port F.C. players Chinese Super League players 2011 AFC Asian Cup players 2015 AFC Asian Cup players Chinese expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands