The club was founded in 1986 by the local Shenyang government sports body to take part in the Chinese football league system. The club was named "Shenyang" (沈阳). The team started at the bottom of the league system by playing in the second division. They were promoted to the 1988 Chinese Jia-A League quickly after the league expanded and Liaoning FC was ineligible to field their reserve team in the same division. The club was relegated after only one season. With the following campaigns the club mostly remained within the second tier, except for a short foray in the 1992 Chinese Jia-A League campaign; however, again they were relegated after only one season.