Li Fusheng (; January 4, 1953 – December 2, 2007) was a

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

international

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

. He represented Chengdu Military Football Team and

Bayi Football Team The Bayi or August First Football Team () or its full name the People's Liberation Army Bayi Football Club () was a football team under the sport branch of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) that played in China's football league system between 1 ...

at club level while also having a long association representing China at international level where he made 119 appearances making him China's highest capped goalkeeper.

Playing career

Li Fusheng was born in

Ju County Ju County or Juxian () is a county of Rizhao City, in the south of Shandong Province, People's Republic of China. As of the end of 2021, the total registered population of Ju County was 1.167 million. It covers an area of . The Fulaishan Scenic ...

Shandong Shandong ( , ; ; alternately romanized as Shantung) is a coastal province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the East China region. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilizati ...

but moved to

Dalian Dalian () is a major sub-provincial port city in Liaoning province, People's Republic of China, and is Liaoning's second largest city (after the provincial capital Shenyang) and the third-most populous city of Northeast China. Located on the ...

to receive training in a Sports School where after he graduated he got a job in a petroleum factory to support his family after the death of his father. This was short lived after he was able to gain a place within the youth team of Dalian football club in 1972 before he then moved to the senior team Chengdu military football team in 1973. By 1975 the

who were the top military football team took Li Fusheng into their club and his career started to flourish after his performances were impressive enough to receive a call up to the Chinese national team and even go on to be included in the squad that came third in the

1976 AFC Asian Cup The 1976 AFC Asian Cup was the 6th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The finals were hosted by Iran between 3 and 13 June 1976. The field of six ...

. After the tournament he would go on to become the team's first choice goalkeeper for the next several seasons and was part of the squad who narrowly missed out in qualifying for the 1982 FIFA World Cup, losing to

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

in a play-off.

Life outside football

After a highly distinguished career where he was a highly regarded goalkeeper despite being relatively short for a goalkeeper he would retire from football in 1984 and move into coaching taking on a coaching role within

before becoming the team's leader. His role as a coach gave him access to the problems within Chinese football and he along with several other high-profile former players demanded the Chinese FA conform to full professionalism. After achieving this he would decide to move away from football and join the

Chinese Communist Party The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victoriou ...

where he went to the

Central Party School The Central Party School of the Chinese Communist Party (), commonly known as the Central Party School (), located in Beijing, is the higher education institution which trains Chinese Communist Party (CCP) cadres. As of 2012, it has around 1,60 ...

and then the

PLA National Defense University The People's Liberation Army National Defence University () is a Beijing-based national military university administered by the People's Liberation Army (PLA) and funded by the Central Military Commission. The university is the highest militar ...

to become a

Colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge of ...

before he took on a position at the

Military Museum of the Chinese People's Revolution The Military Museum of the Chinese People's Revolution or China People's Revolution Military Museum () is a museum located in Haidian District, Beijing, China that displays restored military equipment from the history of the People's Liberation ...

where he was the deputy director in charge of cultural relics. In August 2007 after moving to a home and decorating he fell off a ladder and sustained serious head injuries. He stayed within the hospital for three months before dying of his injuries on December 2, 2007.

Honours

Bayi Football Team * China national league: 1977, 1981

References

External links

Profile
at sodasoccer.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Li, Fusheng 1953 births 2007 deaths People from Rizhao Chinese footballers Footballers from Shandong China international footballers Bayi Football Team players 1976 AFC Asian Cup players 1980 AFC Asian Cup players Accidental deaths from falls Accidental deaths in the People's Republic of China Asian Games bronze medalists for China Asian Games medalists in football Association football goalkeepers Footballers at the 1978 Asian Games Medalists at the 1978 Asian Games