Although the Chinese men's football team is now much complained about, in the history of Chinese football, there have been many popular and powerful heavyweight players, and Wu Qunli, the former captain of the national football team and a famous player in the Southern Cantonese football world, is one of the representatives. Not long ago, at the Panyu Training Base of Guangzhou Football Club, Wu Qunli and Peng Weiguo appeared to sign a contract to jointly help the development of Guangzhou football.
Wu Qunli, 62 years old this year, is still thin and has a slightly old face, but he looks quite energetic in sportswear. Today, he and Peng Weiguo lead the Guangzhou Years Star Football Club, making every effort to build an influential and high-level youth football tournament and football industry platform, and continue to cultivate and transport talents for Chinese football.
Although many people are unfamiliar with the name "Wu Qunli" today, in the 1980s and 1990s, he was a well-known football star. In a few years, with talent and hard work, he transformed from an ordinary worker into a captain of the national football team, and became the only Guangdong football player to win the Chinese Golden Ball Award twice so far.
Wu Qunli is emaciated and does not meet the consistent selection criteria of Chinese football. Therefore, in 1979, he was eliminated by the Guangzhou Second Team and became an ordinary worker. Although he did not have a professional team, Wu Qunli did not let go of his love for football, and consciously practiced as soon as he had free time and actively participated in amateur competitions. Wu Qunli, who performed well in the competition, attracted the attention of Luo Rongman, the godfather of Guangdong football, who recruited Wu Qunli to the Guangzhou team and let him participate in the final of the National Games with the team the following year.
Although he has not received professional training for 4 years, wu Qunli completed the "triple jump" miracle of promoting to the main force, participating in the National Games and being selected for the national second team soon after entering the Guangzhou team. In 1991, Wu Qunli, who performed well, won the Golden Ball Award in Chinese football, the Chinese Footballer of the Year, and in the same year, he led Guangzhou Baiyun to the second place in the First Division. In 1993, after foreign coach Schlapner took charge of the national football team, Wu Qunli provoked Da Liang to become the captain and led the team to the World Cup. It was also in this year that he once again won the Golden Ball Award in Chinese football and the honor of Chinese Footballer of the Year.
However, in this World Cup, the Chinese men's football team eventually failed to qualify for the Asian Quarterfinals, and the 34-year-old Wu Qunli officially announced his retirement shortly after the game. After retiring from retirement, he also briefly joined the Hong Kong South China team and became the first mainland player to win the "Hong Kong Footballer of the Year". Later, after bidding farewell to the field, he founded his own football club, and in 2017, he was elected as the president of the Guangzhou Haizhu Football Association, excavating and cultivating the new generation of strength and promoting the development of Chinese football.