Nantong Haimen Codion

Yan Ge is the sort of player a club like this is built to produce. He made the China League Two team of the season in 2023.

That order of business — players first, a senior team afterwards — explains the place. What was set up in May 2011 was not a football club in the usual sense but a youth academy, a joint venture between the Haimen district education authority and a shoe manufacturer, running age groups from U10 to U18 and nothing above them. The name changed as the money did: Langyi in 2016, then Zhongnan Holdings a year later, and it was under Zhongnan that a senior side was finally assembled with the professional leagues in mind.

Beaten finalists in the Jiangsu FA Cup in 2019 and again in 2020, the team won the Jiangsu FA Championship League in 2021, which opened the door to the Chinese Champions League, the national amateur competition. They reached the final and lost it 0-1 to Jinan Xingzhou.

Home is the Haimen Sports Centre Stadium, 10,000 seats, red and white shirts.

Dai Yuanji, another academy product, went there on loan in July 2024.