text: With young players aged between 14 and 17, Shanghai East Asia competed in the 2006 China League Two, the third-tier of the Chinese league system. The team played their home games at Genbao Football Base Arena training ground in Chongming, Shanghai, and eventually finished their first season in seventh place. During the campaign, Xu's players broke a few records during the season, with Cao Yunding being the youngest Chinese goalscorer aged 16 years and 242 days, and Wu Lei the youngest Chinese professional footballer, aged only 14 years and 287 days.
  At the end of 2006, Claude Lowitz left the club, and former assistant manager Jiang Bingyao took up the manager position. With lessons learned and experiences gained from their debutante season, the young East Asia FC went on to win the division title in 2007, by beating Sichuan in the final, and thus gaining promotion to China League One, the second-tier of the football league.
  2008–2012: League One
  Despite the successful promotion, questions arose as to what would happen to the team, especially given that Xu's previous efforts to create a professional club (Shanghai 02) ended up being sold off to Shanghai Shenhua in 2002 due to financial difficulties. In June 2007, Shanghai government came to Xu's rescue with financial aid, in exchange East Asia FC would represent Shanghai in the 2009 National Games of China.