Gao Fengwen facts for kids
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Gao Fengwen | ||
| Date of birth | 23 November 1939 | ||
| Place of birth | Kaiyuan, Liaoning, China (Kaiyuan, Fengtian, Manchukuo) |
||
| Date of death | 27 October 2020 (aged 80) | ||
| Playing position | Midfielder | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 1957–1973 | Liaoning FC | ||
| National team | |||
| 1965–1973 | China PR | ||
| Teams managed | |||
| 1981–1983 | China PR U-20 | ||
| 1984–1985 | China PR U-16 | ||
| 1986–1990 | China PR | ||
|
|||
Gao Fengwen (Chinese: 高丰文) was a famous Chinese football player and coach. He was born on November 23, 1939, and passed away on October 27, 2020. Gao Fengwen played a big role in Chinese football, both on the field and as a leader for many teams.
Playing Football
Gao Fengwen was born in Kaiyuan, a city in China. He was a very talented young football player. He played for a team called Liaoning FC. In 1965, he was chosen to play for the Chinese national team, which is the best team in the country. He even became the team's captain!
During his time as a player, there was a big social and political movement in China. This movement meant that he couldn't play in many big international football tournaments. However, he still got to play in several smaller games and proudly represented his country before he stopped playing professionally.
Coaching Teams
After he stopped playing football, Gao Fengwen decided to become a coach. He traveled to other countries like Yemen in 1974 and Burundi in 1977 to teach football for several years.
He came back to China in 1979 and took a special course to become a football coach. Soon after, he was offered a job coaching the Chinese youth team.
Coaching Youth Teams
As a youth coach, Gao Fengwen led the Chinese U-20 team to second place in the 1982 AFC Youth Championship. This was a great achievement for the young players.
He also coached the Chinese U-16 team. He led them to the quarterfinals in the 1985 FIFA U-16 World Championship. This showed that he was very good at helping young players develop their skills.
Coaching the Senior National Team
Because of his success with the youth teams, Gao Fengwen was promoted to coach the Chinese senior national team on December 25, 1986.
His first big task was to help China qualify for the 1988 AFC Asian Cup. He successfully achieved this goal. Then, he led the senior team to the Football at the 1988 Summer Olympics for the very first time in China's history! Even though the team didn't score any goals in the tournament, it was still a huge moment for Chinese football to be part of the Olympics.
A few months later, Gao Fengwen led China in the 1988 AFC Asian Cup. This time, the team did much better. They reached the semifinals, almost making it to the final game, but they lost to South Korea in extra time.
Gao Fengwen also tried to lead China to qualify for the 1990 FIFA World Cup. They came very close, but they lost to Qatar in the last few minutes of their final game, which meant they couldn't go to the World Cup.
Despite this, Gao kept his job and led China in the Football at the 1990 Asian Games. However, this tournament was disappointing, as they lost to Thailand and were eliminated early. After this, Gao Fengwen decided to resign from his coaching position.
After leaving professional coaching, Gao Fengwen started his own football school in 1996. He continued to help young players learn and love the sport.
