As a player he represented Liaoning Whowin and Shandong Luneng in the Chinese Super League and spent one season on loan at French club AS Nancy.

One of the premier strikers in China[citation needed], Li Jinyu earned his reputation early when he was the stars of the Chinese youth team that studied in Brazil for a training programme sponsored by Shenzhen Jianlibao.

This then saw him called up to the Chinese under-20 national team and gave him a chance to play in the 1997 FIFA World Youth Championship which attracted the interests of French side AS Nancy who acquired him on loan for one season.

At the beginning of the 2004 league season, Shandong Luneng were willing to pay 4,900,000 yuan to make him the most expensive signing in Chinese football transfer history at the time.

On 13 May 2013, he was appointed as the new manager of China League One side Shenyang Shenbei, replacing Liu Zhicai who was sacked from the club on the same day after a string of poor results.