Yu Genwei (Chinese: 于根伟) (born 7 January 1974) is a former

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 footballer who played his entire career for

Tianjin Teda Tianjin Jinmen Tiger 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 Tianjin, and their home stadium is t ...

as an attacking

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

or striker. Internationally he represented the Chinese football team where he was a participant 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 ...

Club career

Beginning his football career for

(then known as Tianjin FC) in the 1994 league season where he quickly established himself as an attacking midfielder when he scored 10 league goals and helped Tianjin win promotion to the top tier. He would help establish Tianjin as a regular within the top tier and would even personally win the Chinese Football Association Young Player of the Year at the end of the 1996 league season. By the 1997 league season Tianjin would have a disappointing season when they came eleventh in the league and were relegated from the top tier. Yu Genwei would however stay with Tianjin throughout the 1998 league season to help fight for immediate promotion which they achieved when they won the second tier. Once more within the top tier Yu Genwei would remain with Tianjin for the rest of his career to help establish them in the top tier.

International career

After Yu Genwei had just won the 1996 CFA Young Player of the Year award he would go on to be promoted to the Chinese senior team and make his debut in a friendly against

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

on 30 August 1997 in a 0–0 draw. His performance was considered good enough to be included in several squads to play in China's unsuccessful

1998 FIFA World Cup qualification 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

campaign, however due to his drop in form and Tianjin's relegation at the end of 1997 league campaign he would be excluded from future squads until he picked up his form. After finding his goalscoring form and with Tianjin back playing in the top tier Yu would be given another chance to play for the China once again when the new Chinese Head coach

Bora Milutinović Velibor "Bora" Milutinović ( sr-Cyrl, Велибор Бора Милутиновић; born 7 September 1944) is a Serbian former professional footballer and manager. He has managed at five editions of the FIFA World Cup, tied for the record a ...

included him in a friendly game against

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu River, Y ...

on 3 August 2001 in a 2–2 draw. After that game he would go on to establish himself as an integral member of the Chinese team and would score his first goal in a vital qualifying game against

Oman Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is situated on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and spans the mouth of t ...

that saw China qualify for the

International goals

Honours

Club

* Jia B League: 1998

Individual

* CFA Young Player of the Year: 1996

Managerial statistics

As of December 18, 2022. Note: win or lose by penalty shoot-out is counted as the draw in time.

References

External links

Player profile at BBC 2002 World Cup Squads
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Yu, Genwei 1974 births Living people Chinese footballers Footballers from Tianjin China international footballers 2002 FIFA World Cup players Tianjin Jinmen Tiger F.C. players Association football forwards Association football midfielders Tianjin Jinmen Tiger F.C. managers