Su Maozhen (; born 30 July 1972) is a Chinese

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 international player. As a player, he spent his whole career with

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 ...

as a striker where he won several league and cups with them as well as being a regular for the Chinese national team, playing at 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 ...

. After his retirement as a player he eventually moved into management where he started off as an assistant before becoming the head coach of the China under-20 national team.

Club career

Early on in his career, Su had two brief trial periods with

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

in the 1989–90 and 1991–92 seasons, during which he made a number of appearances for the Junior A team alongside future stars such as

Ryan Giggs Ryan Joseph Giggs (né Wilson; 29 November 1973) is a Welsh association football, football coach and former player. Regarded as one of the greatest players of his generation, Giggs played his List of one-club men in association football, entir ...

David Beckham David Robert Joseph Beckham (; born 2 May 1975) is an English former professional footballer, the current president and co-owner of Inter Miami CF and co-owner of Salford City. Known for his range of passing, crossing ability and bending fr ...

and

Paul Scholes Paul Scholes (born 16 November 1974) is an English football coach, pundit, former player, and co-owner of Salford City. He spent his entire professional playing career with Manchester United, for whom he scored over 150 goals in more than 700 ...

. Once Su returned to China and established himself as regular for

, he then started his rise to prominence. This was first shown when he helped Shandong win the 1995

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 continued the following 1996 Chinese Jia-A League season when he was the league's top goalscorer with 13 league goals, despite Shandong only finishing in 5th in the league. By the 1999 league season, he had been made club captain, and led them to the league and cup double, resulting in him being named Chinese Footballer of the Year.

International career

Su Maozhen made his first senior international cap against

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

on 23 January 1994 in a 1–0 defeat. However, he struggled to make much of an impact and was sidelined until he became a regular for Shandong and win the 1995 Chinese FA Cup with them. Given another chance to make an impression for his country he was selected for the squad to play against

Macau Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a pop ...

for China's 1996 AFC Asian Cup qualification campaign where on 30 January 1996 he scored his debut goal in a 7–1 victory. After that game he quickly started to a regular for his country and was included in the squads that reached the quarter-finals in the

1996 AFC Asian Cup The 1996 AFC Asian Cup was the 11th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The finals were held in the United Arab Emirates between 4 and 21 Decembe ...

and then semi-finals of the

2000 AFC Asian Cup The 2000 AFC Asian Cup was the 12th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international association football, football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The finals were held in Lebanon between 12 and 29 O ...

while also being an integral member of the squad that qualified for

. During the tournament he only made one appearance against

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

and once the World Cup campaign finished Su soon retired from international football.

International goals

Management career

In 2006, Su graduated from

Salford Business School Salford Business School is located 3 km west of Manchester city centre in the Maxwell Building on the Peel Park Campus of the University of Salford. As a business school it offers business management courses, business services and busine ...

University of Salford , caption = Coat of ArmsUniversity of Salford , mottoeng = "Let us seek higher things" , established = 1850 - Pendleton Mechanics Institute 1896 – Royal Technical Institute, Salford 1967 – gained ...

in the United Kingdom, having completed a master's degree in Management. In 2006 he returned to his former club, Shandong Luneng where he was offered their under-17 management position. In November 2006, he was appointed as Assistant Manager of the Chinese Olympic football team by the Chinese Football Association (CFA) in their preparations for the 2008 Beijing Games. Once the tournament finished he was offered the chance to become the Head coach of the Chinese under-20 team. His first assignment was to qualify for the

2010 AFC U-19 Championship The 2010 AFC U-19 Championship was the 36th edition of the tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation. Qualification for the tournament started in October 2009 with the finals tournament being hosted in October 2010. The AFC reco ...

, which he achieved by winning all of the qualifying games while during the tournament China reached the quarter-finals.

Honours

Player

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 ...

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 ...

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

References

External links

World Cup footballer graduates from Salford

Salford graduate appointed as Olympic football coach

BBC Sport World Cup 2002 profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Su, Maozhen 1972 births Chinese footballers Footballers from Qingdao Association football forwards Shandong Taishan F.C. players China international footballers 2002 FIFA World Cup players 1996 AFC Asian Cup players 2000 AFC Asian Cup players Chinese football managers Alumni of the University of Salford Qingdao Hainiu F.C. (1990) managers Qingdao F.C. managers Living people