Wu Yan (footballer)

Wu Yan (born 7 January 1989) is a Chinese football manager and former player who is currently the manager of China League Two club Xi'an Chongde Ronghai. In his playing career, he played as a goalkeeper.

Club career
Wu was promoted to Chinese Super League side Wuhan Optics Valley's first team squad in 2007. He played as the fourth choice goalkeeper of the team. Wuhan Optics Valley withdrew from the top tier for what it claimed was unfair punishment by the Chinese Football Association on 1 October 2008, after a scuffle broke out on the field in one of their matches.

He joined Hubei Greenery which used the Wuhan U-19 team as well as Hubei youth team as the foundation for the squad in 2009. He made 10 appearances for Hubei in the 2010 China League Two without conceding a goal, including two legs of the Semi-finals which Hubei Greenery beat Hangzhou Sanchao 1–0 and promoted to China League One. Wu appeared in every minute of the 2012 league season, playing in all 30 League One games for Wuhan Zall as the club achieved runners-up in the league and promoted to Chinese Super League.

Henan Jianye
On 13 January 2015, Wu transferred to Chinese Super League side Henan Jianye. He would make his debut in a league game on 8 March 2015 against Tianjin TEDA in a 3-1 victory. He would initially struggle to establish himself throughout the season and lost his position to Han Feng, however the Head coach Jia Xiuquan kept faith with him and the following season he would establish himself as the clubs first choice goalkeeper. In the 2018 season, Wu only conceded 1 of the 6 penalties awarded against Henan, saving 3 of them with the takers missing the other two by hitting the post. After several seasons with Henan he would be replaced by Wang Guoming as the team's first choice goalkeeper and Wu was allowed to leave to join second tier club Shaanxi Chang'an Athletic on 28 April 2022.

Dalian Pro
After only spending half a season at Shaanxi, Wu returned to the top tier and joined Dalian Pro on 21 August 2022. He immediately replaced long-time serving player Zhang Chong as Dalian's first choice goalkeeper, but could not prevent the team's relegation at the end of the 2023 season.

Managerial career
On 20 February 2024, Wu was appointed as the manager of newly-promoted China League Two club Xi'an Chongde Ronghai, essentially signifying his retirement from playing career.