徐根宝
With the club in a higher division, Shanghai Dongya moved into the 30,000 seater Jinshan Sports Centre in Jinshan District of Shanghai and finished the 2008 China League One division campaign in sixth place. In summer 2009, Shanghai Dongya represented the Shanghai football team and took part in the 2009 National Games. Xu Genbao took up the management post himself and led the team to win gold in the men's football tournament. Meanwhile, in the league, Shanghai Dongya chose the 65,000 seater Shanghai Stadium as their home stadium for their 2009 China League One campaign. Shanghai Dongya finished the season in fourth place and just missed out on promotion by a single win, but it was still considered quite an achievement because that team was made up of players under 20 years old, and with no foreign imports.