The company sought to emphasize back on Chinese market by selling their major overseas assets[6] including shares in Atlético Madrid,[7] after Chinese government put strict regulations and bans on using domestic funding to invest foreign enterprises[8] and investigated a few companies including Wanda, Hainan airlines and Anbang Group.
[11] In the following two matches, Ma Lin used conservative 5-defender formation, putting Carrasco in the central forward position and fed him with long passes, but the results were unsatisfactory, as the team was still totally suppressed by the opponents.
[12] The team made contact with Bernd Schuster[13] to replace Ma Lin during the short break of the FIFA Calendar in late March.
Yifang defeated Chongqing Dangdai by Sun Bo's long drive to enter the FA Cup quarter-finals on 2 May.
Yifang U-19 youth team entered the final round of the U-19 FA Cup, but was defeated 3-4 (0-0) by Jiangsu Suning U-19 in penalty shootout on 28 June.
[20] Yifang started the second half of the season with 5-0 aggregate victory against China League Two team Sichuan Jiuniu in the FA cup, to enter the semi-finals.
Li Shuai was called up for China U23 squad to prepare for the 2018 Asian Games, and Yifang gained advantage of using 1 less U23 player than required until 10 August.
[22] Shortly after, Nyasha Mushekwi scored the first and only hat trick in squad this season, to beat Guangzhou R&F by 3-0, but would miss the next match for accumulating 4 yellow cards.
Although Zhang Chong made a crucial mistake to give Ricardo Vaz Te a gift goal, Mushekwi scored twice to bring the team back to life.
Much controversy appeared as Schuster used regular startups in the FA cup match against Shandong Luneng, that the team's performance would be limited by frequent fixtures.
Noticeably, on 12 August, FIFA ordered Iraqi club Al-Shorta SC to pay a final $805,000-worth compensation to Yifang.
Mushekwi returned to Zimbabwe, but would miss the 2019 AFCON qualification, because he had had a lot of pain in the pelvis area, and would go for a planned examination in South Africa.
Chinese Football Association called up a training squad consists of 55 players, from 8 October until 31 December,[29] including Li Shuai, Wang Yaopeng and Wang Jinxian, after released a file previously on 30 September,[30] indicating that Yifang was capable to neglect the U-23 policy from October.
Mushekwi was unable to play as the doctor recommended, and would have a surgery in Madrid to treat the problem that stalked him for the entire season some time later.
Zhu Ting scored his first goal in 2018 season, but Zhang Chong made a Karius-like mistake, by throwing the ball directly to Cao Yongjing, thus ruined the match.
[35] The last round of 2018 season on 11 November saw a desperate situation, as Yifang, Tianjin TEDA, Changchun Yatai and Chongqing Dangdai were identical 32 points.
Yatai striker Odion Ighalo was unable to play due to injuries, while Qin Sheng returned in time.
With Riascos's header and Carrasco's killer shot near the goal line, the season-highest 51,666 fans watched Yifang safely ranked 11th as the 2018 Chinese Super League reached its final moments.
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply.
As of 1 March 2018 Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply.
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply.