Full name Yu Genwei Name Yu Genwei Position Forward Years Team Spouse Zhang Yabei (m. 2014) | Current team Retired Height 1.80 m Place of birth Tianjin, China Role Football player | |
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Date of birth (1974-01-07) 7 January 1974 (age 41) Playing position | ||
Yu Genwei (Chinese: 于根伟) (born 7 January 1974) is a retired Chinese football player who played his entire career for Tianjin Teda as a versatile attacking midfielder or striker. He is also famous for having played for the Chinese football team and being a participant at the 2002 FIFA World Cup.
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Club career
Beginning his football career for Tianjin Teda (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 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 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 included him in a friendly game against North Korea 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 that saw China qualify for the 2002 FIFA World Cup.