Qi Wusheng (; ; born May 20, 1944 in

Weihai Weihai (), formerly called Weihaiwei (), is a prefecture-level city and major seaport in easternmost Shandong province. It borders Yantai to the west and the Yellow Sea to the east, and is the closest Chinese city to South Korea. Weihai's popula ...

) is 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 ...

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 Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

and a former international player.

Playing career

Despite being born in

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 ...

, Qi would go on to play for teams within

Liaoning Liaoning () is a coastal province in Northeast China that is the smallest, southernmost, and most populous province in the region. With its capital at Shenyang, it is located on the northern shore of the Yellow Sea, and is the northernmost ...

before he would be selected for the Chinese national team. As a footballer, he played as a

centre back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

and was known for his extraordinary ability and superb running game. His wealth of experience was limited due to the Chinese

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated goal ...

. However, he was still able to play within 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 ...

and help China to a third-place finish before he retired.

Managerial career

After he retired from playing, Qi took the

Somalia Somalia, , Osmanya script: 𐒈𐒝𐒑𐒛𐒐𐒘𐒕𐒖; ar, الصومال, aṣ-Ṣūmāl officially the Federal Republic of SomaliaThe ''Federal Republic of Somalia'' is the country's name per Article 1 of thProvisional Constituti ...

head coach position with little success before returning to China, where he mainly took on numerous coaching positions for youth teams or as an assistant manager positions. After years of working his way up through these positions in the 1986 league season he took on his first major job within China as the

Guangzhou Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong Kon ...

Head coach where he guided them to mid-table seventh within the league. His management saw Guangzhou become a mid-table team for the next several years until ambitious side

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 ...

became interested in Qi Wusheng's coaching style of a focused, solid defense to act as the basis for the teams attack. After winning 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 ...

in 1992 with Dalian the Chinese national team became interested within his services after they replaced

Klaus Schlappner Klaus Schlappner (born 22 May 1940) is a football manager. He is predominantly remembered for his first spell with SV Waldhof Mannheim, when he led them to the 2. Bundesliga title and several seasons in the Bundesliga as well as being the firs ...

as the Chinese Head coach. Qi would go on to manage the national team to a silver medal in the

1994 Asian Games The 1994 Asian Games ( ja, 1994年アジア競技大会, ''Senkyūhyakukyūjūyon-nen Ajia kyōgi taikai''), also known as the XII Asiad and the 12th Asian Games ( ja, 第12回アジア競技大会, Daijūni-kai Ajia kyōgi taikai), were held from ...

football tournament. While he experienced some success with the team he could not guide China to a place in the

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

and was replaced by

Bob Houghton Robert Douglas Houghton (born 30 October 1947) is an English football manager and former player. His career has spanned over 30 years and 10 countries. He is most famous for taking Swedish club Malmö FF to the 1979 European Cup Final, where th ...

after he resigned. He would take a position with Wuhan Hongjinlong before spending several seasons with

Yunnan Hongta F.C. Yunnan Hongta (Simplified () was a football club who played in the Chinese Jia-A League who were founded by the Shenzhen Kinspar Group in 1996 and named Shenzhen Kinspar (Simplified (). The club predominantly played within the lower leagues unti ...

until the club merged with

Chongqing Lifan F.C. Chongqing Liangjiang Athletic () is a defunct Chinese football club. The team was based in Chongqing. The club was founded in 1995 as Wuhan Qianwei before making their debut in the newly developed fully professional Chinese football league syst ...

and Qi was released. After a short spell with

Tianjin Teda F.C. Tianjin Jinmen Tiger Football Club is a professional Chinese Association football, football club that currently participates in the Chinese Super League under licence from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The team is based in Tianjin, and t ...

he would return to Guangzhou to help manage them to push for promotion back into the top tier, unable to achieve this he would leave at the end of the 2006 league season.

Honours

As a player

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 ...

AFC Asian Cup The AFC Asian Cup is the primary association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), determining the continental champion of Asia. It is the second oldest cont ...

Third Place:

1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phila ...

As a manager

Dalian *

: 1992

Meizhou Kejia Meizhou Hakka Football Club (; Hakka language: Mòi-Chû Hag-Ga chuk-khiù khî-lo̍k-phu) is a professional Chinese football club that currently participates in the Chinese Super League under license from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). ...

China League Two The Chinese Football Association Division Two League (Simplified Chinese: 中国足球协会乙级联赛), or China League Two, is the third tier league of the People's Republic of China. The league is under the auspices of the Chinese Football As ...

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

Asian Games The Asian Games, also known as Asiad, is a continental multi-sport event held every four years among athletes from all over Asia. The Games were regulated by the Asian Games Federation (AGF) from the first Games in New Delhi, India, until t ...

Silver medal:

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

References

External links

Qi Wusheng Interview (1)

Qi Wusheng Interview with Sina
{{DEFAULTSORT:Qi, Wusheng 1944 births Living people People from Weihai Chinese footballers Footballers from Shandong Liaoning F.C. players China international footballers Chinese football managers Somalia national football team managers China national football team managers 1996 AFC Asian Cup managers Guangzhou F.C. managers Footballers at the 1974 Asian Games 1976 AFC Asian Cup players Association football defenders Meizhou Hakka F.C. managers Asian Games competitors for China Chinese expatriate football managers Chinese expatriate sportspeople in Somalia Expatriate football managers in Somalia Dalian Shide F.C. managers Tianjin Jinmen Tiger F.C. managers