Xu Hong (; born May 14, 1968, in

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 ...

) is a retired

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 ...

player and

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

. He was most recently the manager of Chinese Super League team Dalian Aerbin F.C. for 63 days before he had to resign on February 19, 2013, because it was discovered by the Chinese Football Association that he manipulated a match while as a manager at

Sichuan Guancheng Sichuan First City () is a defunct Chinese football club, which was located in Chengdu, Sichuan where they played in the Chengdu Sports Centre. They were founded in 1953 and spent a large part of their history within the top tier of Chinese foo ...

and was given a 5-year suspension from all football activity.

Playing career

Xu Hong rose to prominence in the 1994 league season with Dalian Wanda FC, when they won the first professional Chinese Jia-A League title. With Dalian, he would win several more top-tier league titles in his career in a dominant Dalian team. As one of the most consistent members of the Dalian team he was also named in several senior Chinese national teams, captaining his country against England in 1996.

Management career

After he retired, Xu Hong began managing the newly formed Chinese team

Dalian Sidelong Shanghai United F.C (Simplified Chinese: 上海联城足球俱乐部) was a Chinese professional football club based in Shanghai, who last played in the 16,000 seater Yuanshen Sports Centre Stadium in the Chinese Super League. The club was founde ...

in the third tier. He quickly managed to get them immediately promoted to the second tier in 2002 and was able to take Dalian Sidelong second in the league. However the Chinese Football Association, in there attempt to improve the league system did not allow any promotion or relegation in this season and Dalian Sidelong remained in the same league. Xu Hong caught the attention of top-tier team

in the 2003 league season where he took them eighth and then ninth the following season in the league. These unremarkable performances saw Xu Hong leave at the end of the 2004 league season. He would not work in management until the 2006 league season with consistent relegation contenders Chongqing Lifan F.C., however despite his best efforts his reign at Chongqing was extremely disappointing and they were relegated at the end of the season, which saw the immediate departure of Xu Hong. Despite being out of management for two seasons Xu Hong's ties were strong enough for him to be given the assistant post at

Dalian Shide F.C. Dalian Shide was a professional Chinese football club based in Dalian, Liaoning province, China who played in China's football league system between 1955 and 2012. Their home stadiums were the 55,843 capacity Dalian People's Stadium and then late ...

in 2008 to

Milorad Kosanović Milorad Kosanović ( sr-Cyrl, Милорад Косановић, ; born 4 January 1951) is a Serbian former football player and manager. During his playing career, Kosanović represented Proleter Zrenjanin, Vojvodina, Kikinda and Novi Sad, compe ...

. However Milorad Kosanović left as Head Coach after a very disappointing season which saw them fight against relegation. Xu Hong was brought in as a temporary Head Coach, yet impressed many at the end of the season with his coaching skills and was offered a permanent position. His resignation was accepted after a 1–2 home loss against Tianjin Teda on May 15, 2010.

Match fixing

On February 19, 2013, Xu was given a 5-year suspension from all football activity after it was discovered by the Chinese Football Association that he manipulated a match while he was manager of

. The match in question was the league game between Sichuan Guancheng against Shaanxi Guoli F.C. on September 21, 2003, in a game that Sichuan actually won 5–1. The Chinese FA claim that the General manager of Shaanxi Guoli, Wang Po told Xu to manipulate the game, however Xu has gone on to proclaim his innocence by pointing out that his team actually won the game and that he never received a penny from Wang Po who has already received a life-ban from football.

Honours

Player

* Chinese Jia-A League: 1994, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2000

Manager

* China League Two: 2001

References

External links

Profile at Sina * {{DEFAULTSORT:Xu, Hong 1968 births Living people Chinese football managers Chinese men's footballers Footballers from Dalian China men's international footballers Liaoning F.C. players Dalian Shide F.C. players 1992 AFC Asian Cup players 1996 AFC Asian Cup players Dalian Shide F.C. managers Dalian Professional F.C. managers Chongqing Liangjiang Athletic F.C. managers Asian Games silver medalists for China Medalists at the 1994 Asian Games Asian Games medalists in football Men's association football defenders Footballers at the 1994 Asian Games