The league revealed on Tuesday that the eight-time Chinese champions, who have nurtured the talents of Manchester City's Sun Jihai and Manchester United's Dong Fangzhou, are expected to utilise a developmental squad which will consist of youngsters on the fringes of the Dalian first team, supplemented by experienced players.

The model is similar to that used by J.League side Albirex Niigata, who will compete in the 12-team S.League for a fifth consecutive season in 2008.

"Singapore football is constantly improving and the S.League is one of the best leagues in Asia," said Dalian Shide general manager Li Ming.

"We are delighted to be accepted to play in the S.League. We are looking forward to the challenge and we know it will not be easy in our first season. We will do our best and we want to bring the Dalian brand of football to entertain the fans in Singapore."

Dalian will meet last season's runners-up Home United in their inaugural S.League match on February 18. Their first 'home' match at the Queenstown Stadium will be against Korean side Super Reds on February 25.

The S.League will be hoping that Dalian prove a success following the failure of two Chinese clubs - Sinchi FC and Liaoning Guangyuan.

Sinchi, who had no club affiliations in China, played in the league for three seasons from 2003 to 2005 before calling it quits for financial reasons.

Liaoning Guangyuan included officials and players from the youth ranks of China Super League side Liaoning but despite sponsorship from the Guangyuan Real Estate Development Group, the team struggled to a lowly 10th place in 2007.

Things got worse for the club when general manager Wang Xin was arrested in early January for alleged match-fixing and eight players had their passports impounded while investigations were carried out by Singapore'sCorrupt Practices Investigation Bureau.

A warrant of arrest has been issued on Wang after he failed to appear in court for a hearing on January 16.