Li Tie (; born 18 May 1977) is a Chinese professional

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 ...

coach and former player. As a player he represented

Liaoning FC 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 ...

in the

Chinese Jia-A League The National Football Jia A League (simplified Chinese, commonly known as Jia-A, was the highest tier of professional football in the People's Republic of China, during 1994 through 2003, operating under the auspices of the Chinese Football Associ ...

, Everton in the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

in the

Football League Championship The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the En ...

and

Chengdu Blades Chengdu Tiancheng F.C. () was a Chinese professional football club based in Chengdu, China who last played in the 26,000 seater Shuangliu Sports Center in the China League One division. The club was founded on 26 February 1996 and was formerly ...

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 ...

. At international level, he made 92 appearances scoring 6 goals for the China national team. After retirement from playing, he started his coaching career as an assistant coach at

Guangzhou Evergrande Guangzhou Football Club, formerly known as Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao Football Club, is a professional Chinese football club that participates in the Chinese Super League under the license of the Chinese Football Association. The team is based ...

. He moved to the China national team and then

Hebei China Fortune Hebei Football Club () is a professional Chinese football club that participates in the Chinese Super League division under licence from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The team is based in Langfang, Hebei and their home stadium is the La ...

where he gained his first coaching position.

Club career

Liaoning FC

Li Tie began his football career at the age of fifteen, joining

's youth academy system in 1992. The following year he was sent to Brazil for a five-year training programme sponsored by Jianlibao and became the captain of the newly organized youth football team. Li started his professional career by playing for

and rose to prominence during the 1999 league season when Liaoning finished as runners-up within the league.

Everton

One of the highest regarded Chinese players of his generation, Li secured a loan transfer in a deal brokered between sponsor

Kejian Shenzhen Kejian Group Co., Ltd. (), better known as Kejian (), was a Chinese telecommunications company. During the 2002–03 FA Premier League season, the company sponsored Everton F.C. Kejian was responsible for the club's signing of Chines ...

and

side Everton in August 2002. Despite initial skepticism at

Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a metropolitan county, metropolitan and ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England, with a population of List of ceremonial counties of England, 1.38 million. It encompasses both banks of the Merse ...

, his first season as an Everton player was a surprising success. Then manager

David Moyes David William Moyes ( ; born 25 April 1963) is a Scottish professional football coach and former player. He is currently the manager of Premier League club West Ham United. He was previously the manager of Preston North End, Everton, Manches ...

played him in twenty-nine league games and started him in most of his appearances where his displays as a defensive midfielder helped the club achieve a seventh-place finish during the 2002-03 season. Following Li's successful loan spell, Everton battled with his former club

to sign him on a permanent basis after the 2002-03 season and the deal was finally negotiated on 12 August 2003 when Li signed a three-year contract. Everton paid £1,200,000 for his transfer with two-thirds of the deal paid by sponsorships. The club's ownership let him move to the Premier League despite higher offers from Chinese clubs. At the beginning of the 2003-04 season, Li's start was marred by a sending off against

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

on 16 August 2003 after only been substituted on for

David Unsworth David Gerald Unsworth (born 16 October 1973) is an English football coach and former professional footballer who is currently the manager of Oldham Athletic. Prior to this, he was most recently academy director and under-23's head coach at Prem ...

. A series of injuries followed which meant that Li only played five league matches that season. The last injury, a broken leg picked up during international duty in February 2004, ruled him out for another twelve months. In January 2005, when Li made his return to the pitch by playing for Everton's reserve side against

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...

, he lasted just forty-one minutes and required his leg to be reassessed. In the summer of 2005, eighteen months since his last game for the Everton first team, Li played the full match against FC Gamlitz in a pre-season friendly. He made a number of other preseason appearances and looked as if he was finally coming back to full fitness. However, he never managed to break back into the first team despite playing regularly for the reserves and even earning another international call-up for the Chinese national team. In March 2006, Li underwent another operation to remove pieces of bone that had grown on his ankle during his time on the sidelines.

Sheffield United

In May 2006, Li was released by Everton and

announced his signing on a free transfer in July 2006, agreeing to a two-year contract. Following his move, Li spent some time training with

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

, which was owned by Sheffield United, while waiting for his visa clearance. On 19 September 2006, Li made his first competitive club start since January 2004 by appearing for Sheffield United in a League Cup match against

Bury Bury may refer to: *The burial of human remains *-bury, a suffix in English placenames Places England * Bury, Cambridgeshire, a village * Bury, Greater Manchester, a town, historically in Lancashire ** Bury (UK Parliament constituency) (1832–19 ...

. However, Li did not make another appearance for Sheffield United afterwards due to his lingering injury. On 12 October 2007, Li was told he could leave Sheffield United on a free transfer with then manager

Bryan Robson Bryan Robson OBE (born 11 January 1957) is an English football manager and former player. He began his career with West Bromwich Albion in 1972, where he amassed over 200 appearances and was club captain before moving to Manchester United in ...

saying, "He's not in my plans and he is free to go wherever he wants on a free transfer." Only two days later though, Sheffield United changed their mind on the decision and stated that he would stay at the club until the end of the season before having his future evaluated.

Back to China

Despite reassurances to the contrary, Li did indeed move in 2008, transferring to

's affiliated club

to reinforce the team after their promotion to the

and made his debut in the opening game of the 2008 season against his former club

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 ...

. He scored first league goal in his football career in a 3-1 win against

Shenzhen Shangqingyin 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 ...

in October 2008. After spending one season with Chengdu, Li decided to return to his hometown club

to help them in their promotion push back to the top tier. It proved to be an immediate success when he guided them to the securing the second tier league title and being promoted back to the top flight after only one season. He suffered an injury in October 2010 which ruled him out for the whole 2011 season. After not fully recovering from his leg injury, Li announced that he had decided to retire from football at the end of the 2011 season.

International career

Li was one of four players called up from the Shenzhen Youth for the final round of 1998 FIFA World Cup qualifiers by

Qi Wusheng Qi Wusheng (; ; born May 20, 1944 in Weihai) is a Chinese football coach and a former international player. Playing career Despite being born in Shandong, Qi would go on to play for teams within Liaoning before he would be selected for the ...

, along with

Li Jinyu Li Jinyu (; born 6 July 1977) is a former international player who is currently the head coach of Wuhan F.C., Wuhan. As a player he represented Liaoning Whowin and Shandong Luneng Taishan F.C., Shandong Luneng in the Chinese Super League and ...

, Sui Dongliang, and

Zhang Xiaorui Zhang Xiaorui (; born March 5, 1976 in Tianjin) is a Chinese football manager and a former professional player who used to play for Tianjin Teda, Alemannia Aachen, Shanghai Zobon and Shanghai Shenhua. His first management assignment was with th ...

. He was already a veteran in the China national team by the time the national team played in the

2002 FIFA World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...

. Recovering from an injury, Li returned to competitive football in June 2006 with substitute appearances for the China national team against

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

and

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. He was once again called up to play for the national team in a friendly against

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

on 10 August 2006 and in a 2007 AFC Asian Cup qualifier against

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

on 16 August 2006. Li remained as a part of the national side and was called up by

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 ...

to play 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 ...

, but failed to make an appearance during the tournament.

Managerial career

On 25 May 2012, Li accepted an invitation from

manager

Marcello Lippi Marcello Romeo Lippi (; born 12 April 1948) is an Italian former professional football player and manager, who led the Italian national team to victory in the 2006 FIFA World Cup. He was appointed as Italy head coach in the summer of 2004 and 2 ...

to become one of his assistant coaches. He also became the assistant coach of the Chinese national team under

Alain Perrin Alain André Christian Perrin (born 7 October 1956) is a French professional football manager and former player. Perrin made his managerial breakthrough at Troyes, whom he took from the fourth tier to Ligue 1 and UEFA Cup qualification by winnin ...

in May 2014. He resigned from his position as assistant coach on 26 June 2015 after about three seasons with Guangzhou. Li became the deputy general manager, sports director and assistant coach at

side

on 14 July 2015. On 18 August 2015, he was assigned as the manager of the club after

Radomir Antić Radomir Antić ( sr-Cyrl, Радомир Антић, ; 22 November 1948 – 6 April 2020) was a Serbian professional football manager and player. Following a 17-year playing career as a defender, most of which he spent playing at Partizan, wit ...

's departure. Li led the club to win promotion to

in the 2015 season by winning eight matches in the rest of nine and finishing the runners-up in the league. On 27 August 2016, Li was replaced by

Manuel Pellegrini Manuel Lúis Pellegrini Ripamonti (; ; born 16 September 1953) is a Chilean professional football manager and former player who is the manager of Real Betis. As a coach, he has managed teams in Spain, England, Argentina, Chile, China and Ecuador. ...

after winning just one match in the last nine matches. On 16 November 2017, Li was appointed as the head coach of China League One club

Wuhan Zall Wuhan Yangtze River Football Club, formerly Wuhan Zall Football Club (), is a professional Chinese football club that currently participates in the Chinese Super League under licence from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The team is based in ...

. In the 2018 season, he led the club to the Chinese Super after a five-year absence, being confirmed as champions and achieving promotion with three matches remaining in the season. He acted as caretaker coach of Chinese national team following the resignation of

in 2019. On 2 January 2020, Li was appointed as the new manager of

China 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 ...

. On 3 December 2021, Li was replaced by fellow 2002 World Cup teammate Li Xiaopeng.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list China's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Li goal.''

Managerial statistics

Honours

Player

Liaoning Whowin *

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

Chinese FA Super Cup The Chinese FA Super Cup (), formerly named Chinese Football Super Cup (), is a pre-season association football, football competition held before the season begins in China PR, China. It is a Chinese football championship contested by the winners ...

: 1999 Individual *

Team of the Year:

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

Manager

Wuhan Zall *

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

Individual *China League One Coach of the Year:

中甲联赛颁奖典礼在京举行共颁出各类共17大奖项
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References

External links

* *
Sohu.com profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Li, Tie 1977 births Living people Footballers from Shenyang Chinese footballers Association football midfielders Association football forwards Liaoning F.C. players Everton F.C. players Sheffield United F.C. players Chengdu Tiancheng F.C. players Chinese Super League players Premier League players China League One players Chinese expatriate footballers Chinese expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate footballers in England Footballers at the 1998 Asian Games Asian Games medalists in football Asian Games bronze medalists for China Medalists at the 1998 Asian Games China international footballers 2000 AFC Asian Cup players 2002 FIFA World Cup players 2007 AFC Asian Cup players Chinese football managers Guangzhou F.C. non-playing staff Hebei F.C. non-playing staff Hebei F.C. managers Wuhan F.C. managers China national football team managers Chinese Super League managers