Li Jinyu (; born 6 July 1977) is a former international player who is currently the head coach of

Wuhan Wuhan (, ; ; ) is the capital of Hubei, Hubei Province in the China, People's Republic of China. It is the largest city in Hubei and the most populous city in Central China, with a population of over eleven million, the List of cities in China ...

. As a player he represented

Liaoning Whowin Liaoning Football Club (), officially known as Liaoning Hongyun (), was a professional association football club with a long history in Chinese football. The club can predate their formation to 1953, when Shenyang government sports body joined ex ...

and

Shandong Luneng Shandong Taishan Football Club () is a professional football club that currently participates in the Chinese Super League under licence from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The team is based in Jinan, Shandong and their home stadium is th ...

in the

Chinese Super League The Chinese Football Association Super League, commonly known as Chinese Super League or CSL, currently known as the China Ping An Chinese Football Association Super League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest tier of professional football in ...

and spent one season on loan at French club

AS Nancy Association Sportive Nancy Lorraine (), commonly known as AS Nancy Lorraine, or simply Nancy, is a French association football club founded in 1967 in Nancy, Grand Est and located in Tomblaine, in the inner suburbs of Nancy. The club currently ...

. He is also currently the top goalscorer in Chinese professional league history and won the Golden Boot Award three times in the process.

Club career

One of the premier strikers in China, Li Jinyu earned his reputation early when he was the stars of the Chinese youth team that studied in Brazil for a training programme sponsored by

Shenzhen Jianlibao Shenzhen Football Club () is a Chinese professional football club that competes in the Chinese Super League. The team is based in Shenzhen, Guangdong and their home stadium is the Shenzhen Universiade Sports Centre that has a seating capacity of ...

. This then saw him called up to the Chinese under-20 national team and gave him a chance to play in the

1997 FIFA World Youth Championship The 1997 FIFA World Youth Championship, known as the 1997 FIFA/Coca-Cola World Youth Championship for sponsorship purposes, was the 11th staging of the FIFA World Youth Championship. It was held from 16 June to 5 July 1997 in Malaysia. It was th ...

which attracted the interests of French side

who acquired him on loan for one season. Li's time at AS Nancy was not successful and he would return to China to sign with

, immediately showing his potential that was missing at AS Nancy when he became an integral member of the team that narrowly lost out on the league title in 1999. While he would personally win his first Golden Boot award in 2002, he did not win any trophies with his club Liaoning during his time with them. At the beginning of the 2004 league season,

were willing to pay 4,900,000 yuan to make him the most expensive signing in Chinese football transfer history at the time. He would immediately become an integral member of the team and would repay them by helping them win the

Chinese FA Cup The Chinese FA Cup (, abbreviated as CFA Cup) is the national knockout cup competition in China organized by the Chinese Football Association. Its current holders are Shandong Taishan, having beaten Shanghai Port in 2021 for a record seventh titl ...

and

Chinese Super League Cup The Chinese Super League Cup () was a association football, football tournament in China held for two years from 2004 until 2005. History Chinese Super League Cup was established in the inaugural season of the Chinese Super League (CSL) as a sup ...

at the end of the season. The 2006 league season would see him reach his peak when he won the league title, the Chinese FA Cup, and the Golden Boot award with the team. The 2007 league season would see him officially become the most prolific player within the league when he broke

Hao Haidong Hao Haidong (; born 9 May 1970) is a Chinese former international footballer. He currently holds the record for being China's top goalscorer. As a player he represented Bayi Football Team, Dalian Shide and Sheffield United in a career that saw ...

's goal record, however he could not aid Shandong to another league title. Despite his tradition in scoring, his prolific goalscoring dropped during the 2008 league season when he only scored six goals, nevertheless he was still able to win another league title. By the 2010 league season, Li would become a fringe player within the team, however he would still go on to win the league title once more and decided to retire at the end of the season.

International career

After playing in the

for the Chinese under-20 national team, Li would immediately move to the senior team and would make his debut in a friendly against the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

in a 1-1 draw on 1 February 1997. This then saw him become a regular with the Chinese national team and saw him play in several unsuccessful World Cup qualifiers. His biggest achievement came in the

2004 AFC Asian Cup The 2004 AFC Asian Cup was the 13th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international association football, football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It was held from 17 July to 7 August 2004 in China. ...

where he was an integral member of the team that was runners-up in the tournament. When China qualified for the

2007 AFC Asian Cup The 2007 AFC Asian Cup was the 14th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The finals were held from 7 to 29 July 2007. For the first time in its h ...

, then manager

Zhu Guanghu Zhu Guanghu (; born September 25, 1949 in Shanghai, China) is a Chinese football coach and a former player. As a player, he was predominantly remembered for his time at Shanghai Football Team before going into management where he started off ...

dropped him from the squad to take part in the tournament because he believed that his performances were not convincing enough to be included in the squad.

Management career

Li started his managerial career by becoming the assistant coach of the Chinese women's national team and

Shenyang Shenbei Shenyang Zhongze F.C. () was a former professional Chinese football club that participated in the China League One, Chinese League One division. History The club was founded in August 2009 as Tianjin Runyulong and was initially set-up as an amate ...

. On 13 May 2013, he was appointed as the new manager of

China League One The Chinese Football Association China League (), also known as China League One or Chinese Jia League (中甲联赛), is the second level of professional football in China. Above League One is the Chinese Super League. Prior to the formation of ...

side

, replacing Liu Zhicai who was sacked from the club on the same day after a string of poor results.

Career statistics

Club

International goals

Management statistics

Honours

Player

Club

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

International

China PR national football team China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

East Asian Football Championship EAFF E-1 Football Championship, known as the East Asian Football Championship from 2003 to 2010, and the EAFF East Asian Cup for the 2013 and 2015 editions, is a men's international football competition in East Asia for member nations of the Eas ...

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

Individual

Top goalscorer:

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

Team of the Year:

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

References

External links

*
Player Stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Li, Jinyu 1977 births Living people Footballers from Shenyang Association football forwards Chinese footballers Chinese football managers China international footballers 2004 AFC Asian Cup players Chinese expatriate footballers Liaoning F.C. players AS Nancy Lorraine players Expatriate footballers in France Ligue 1 players Chinese Super League players Shandong Taishan F.C. players Asian Games medalists in football Footballers at the 1998 Asian Games Asian Games bronze medalists for China Medalists at the 1998 Asian Games Cangzhou Mighty Lions F.C. managers Chinese Super League managers

Club career

International career

Management career

Career statistics

Club

International goals

Management statistics

Honours

Player

Club

International

Individual

See also

References

External links