Yang Ning grew up into a football family and quickly rose through the ranks before he graduated into the senior team of Guangdong within the 1978 Chinese league season. The following season he went on to be part of the team that went on to win the 1979 Chinese league title.[1] This soon saw him called up to the Chinese national team in 1980, which made him the youngest goalkeeper ever to be included in the national team.[2] He was then included in the squad that played within the 1982 Asian Games before being the first-choice goalkeeper that came runners-up within the 1984 AFC Asian Cup.[3] After playing in the 1986 Asian Games he retired several years later and moved to San Francisco.
