Yang Lin started his professional football career in 2002 with second tier football club Dalian Sidelong[1] and would go on to established himself as a regular as the club moved from Dalian to Zhuhai then to Shanghai while changing their name multiple times, eventually to Shanghai United.
[2] After a personally disappointing season for Yang Lin which saw him lose his place at Henan he transferred to Dalian Shide.
At Dalian, Yang Lin would be utilized as a centre back due to his height for several games.
He made his debut for the senior national team on December 17, 2002, in a friendly against Syria in a 3–1 victory.
[6] In 2007, he played in the early stages of the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification where he scored his first goal against Myanmar national football team, however since then he only made several further friendly appearances before being dropped from the team.