Ruibao Hu

Hu Ruibao's career carries an early blemish that still stands out among the facts on record: in April 2015 the Chinese Football Association banned him for three months after he used a fake ID to falsify his age. The club he had joined in 2013 after five years at Shanghai Luckystar. He made his senior debut there in 2016 and won the Chinese Super League title that same year.

That breakthrough season brought wider interest, and Hu trialled with Manchester City in November 2016, though no move followed. Instead, contract disputes with Guangzhou sent him to Denmark in February 2017, when he joined Vejle Boldklub on a free transfer. Six months later he was loaned to SV Darmstadt 98 in the German 2. Bundesliga, but he never made a competitive appearance for the club, and the loan was cut short in January 2018.

Hu returned to Guangzhou Evergrande later that year and added a second CSL title in 2019. A loan to Henan Jianye that July brought him 10 appearances before a free transfer to Guangzhou City in March 2021. He has since moved through Chengdu Rongcheng, where he played 57 matches and scored four goals across two seasons, and Shenzhen Peng City, where he made 44 appearances and scored once. In July 2026 he was loaned to Yunnan Yukun for a fee of €64,000, in a deal that formed part of a player exchange involving Tang Miao.

At international level, Hu represented China at Under-23 level, earning six caps between 2017 and 2018.