Haifeng Ding

When Ding Haifeng agreed to leave Beijing Guoan for Guangzhou R&F in 2018, he later said the move was not really his choice at all. It was arranged, he explained, so that his teammate Jiang Zhipeng could stay on at Guangzhou.

The left-back came through the Beijing Guoan youth system, joined the first team in 2011, and was part of the squad that finished runner-up in the Chinese Super League that year, though he did not play a single minute of that campaign. He moved between clubs: Shenzhen Ruby, Liaoning Whowin, Hebei China Fortune, Guangzhou R&F, Hebei FC, Shijiazhuang Gongfu and Tianjin Jinmen Tiger, with a loan to Henan FC along the way.

The most difficult of those stops was Hebei FC, where Ding stayed through the club's financial collapse. He and his Chinese teammates went unpaid for three years while foreign staff continued to receive their wages, yet he remained until the club was dissolved in 2022.

Ding's single appearance for the Chinese national team came on 3 June 2016, in a 4-2 friendly win over Trinidad and Tobago. He was not called up again. On the pitch, he is also remembered for two costly own goals, scored a year apart against Guangzhou Evergrande while at Liaoning and against Beijing Guoan while at Hebei China Fortune.