On December 31, 2021, former Beijing Guoan player Lei Tenglong announced his retirement, in the eyes of many people, it is a pity that he will turn 31 years old and choose to retire, for himself, this is not a difficult decision? The big boy who loved to laugh at that time has now passed the age of establishment, football is the career he has been following from the past to the future, he has also grown and transformed in football, and tasted the various tastes of life. At the beginning of 2022, Lei Tenglong will no longer be an active professional player, he will open a new page in his life, but what will not change is that he will still be with his beloved football.
"For any career that has been in the business for twenty years, it is very difficult to choose the end, and I have gone through a lot of ideological struggles before and after making this decision. Maybe having regrets is a part of life, but you won't leave football, it's just that the nature of your work has changed. "Frequent injuries are one of the important reasons why Lei Tenglong chose to retire. In 2011, Lei Tenglong experienced the first major injury of his career, the ankle fracture allowed him to go through surgery and several months of recovery; in 2015 and 2018, his left knee medial collateral ligament was torn twice, although there was no surgery, but the recovery process was difficult and long; in 2020, Lei Tenglong underwent surgery again to clean the ankle bone spurs.
For a professional athlete, every injury is tantamount to a blow, and Lei Tenglong sticks to the green field he loves in the process of injury and recovery. Today, his ankle has disappeared due to long-term changes in the line of force, which has caused cartilage wear and tear, and he has long relied on lubricating fluids and painkillers to relieve the discomfort.
On 6 July 2011, Lei Tenglong scored in the second official match of his career
From entering the Guoan youth training system in 2003, to making his debut for Beijing Guoan in 2011, to leaving the team that has accompanied him for 17 years in early 2020, Lei Tenglong has spent most of his career in Guoan. To this day, it is difficult for him to forget the "debut ball" he scored on behalf of Guoan. On July 6, 2011, in the "Beijing-Shanghai Battle", Lei Tenglong scored a goal in the second official game of his career to help the team win, when he was not yet 20 years old, and he had only made his Debut in the Chinese Super League a week ago, and he began to emerge under the tutelage of then-coach Pacheco. "Every coach is like a mentor to me, pointing me in the right direction, and no matter how much encouragement and encouragement, I have benefited a lot. One of the coaches who made me most memorable was Pacheco, perhaps the only one who dared to use me at the age of 19 when he was preparing for a warm-up emergency before the main players were ready to play. "Lei Tenglong's Chinese Super League debut came a little suddenly, he didn't know he was going to start until he walked into the dressing room before the game, "It was so tense that I even forgot to breathe, I made a penalty for my opponent in the first half, but he (Pacheco) didn't complain about me at all, but said to me: 'Ray, you played well, you are one of the best players I have ever seen, I am proud of you.'" I knew he was encouraging me, and I gave back his trust with my actions. ”
Lei Tenglong has always been a grateful person, but also cherished people's support and trust in him, the first gift he received from the fans in his career, has been cherished until now. "This gift is very meaningful to me and I have kept him at home all the time. Needless to say, the fans have always been very tolerant of me, probably because I love to laugh, everyone gives me enthusiasm, I don't skimp on my smile, and I am often captured by the camera to close my mouth. "In the process of Lei Tenglong's growth, he felt the care and warmth of too many people, until the day of retirement, he had endless thanks." Family is my strongest backing, no matter what happens, they will accompany me, encourage me to comfort me, is my gas station, amulet; teammates are like intimate partners, comrades-in-arms, every training, every game, we have to face the opponent, face the difficulties, this is the cohesion that ordinary work can not give, but also let us form a deep friendship; and the club is like home to me, especially Guoan, I came to Beijing since I was a child to play in Guoan, until the end of 2019 I thought I had dedicated all my peak period to national security, and I originally wanted to retire here, but many things I couldn't control. "Lei Tenglong's career began in Guoan, he started a family in Beijing, Guoan is more than just a team, a club for him, although he later left here to join other teams.
Too many memories, too strong feelings, when looking back at the time of his career for more than ten years, Lei Tenglong has a lot of pictures in his mind. In 2014, when he returned from Portugal to stay in The Ocean and returned to Guoan, he and his teammates played a record of 9 wins and 1 draw together in the second half of the season, and won the last away game of that season against Guangzhou Evergrande, the hegemon of the Chinese Super League at the time. In the 2018 season, Lei Tenglong completed the milestone of 100 games representing Guoan, the club awarded him a commemorative shirt, and that season, he climbed to the top of the FA Cup with the team.
At the beginning of 2020, Lei Tenglong left Guoan to join the then Tianjin Teda, and in 2021, he joined the Hebei team, but his career pressed the stop button, and finally chose to retire after comprehensive consideration. Whether it is the growth and maturity of Guoan, or the rush and twists and turns after leaving Guoan, Lei Tenglong regards these as inevitable experiences in his career and is also a valuable asset he has accumulated for the future.
Before deciding to retire, Lei Tenglong thought about what he would do in the future, but after more than two decades in the football industry, he was best at football. After retiring from the army, he ended his wandering and returned to Beijing to concentrate on running his own professional football training institution, focusing on children's football enlightenment and youth football training. He is a father himself who likes his children very much, and he hopes to be able to teach by example so that more children can enjoy football and grow up in football. "I'm just going to continue my football career in a different way, I'm going to use the next couple of years to make kids feel the joy of football, I'm going to use the expertise I've learned over the years to lead them, I want to create a place for my kids and kids who like to play football to grow up and play together." So I started this football club myself, hoping to continue to contribute to Chinese football. In the future, when the children see Lei Tenglong, they will call "Coach Lei", and he hopes to be able to guide the children positively, he said that football will be his life's career.
Retirement is a farewell to a long past and a new embrace of a new life in the future. From the first day of 2022, Lei Tenglong officially began his life after retirement, he had more time to spend with his family, and he would still be busy with the football career he loved, and never wanted to leave.
Text/Beiqing Sports Wang Fan