On July 8, the Chinese Football Super League came with a bombshell news, Cangzhou Lions Football Club officially announced that the former head coach of the Chinese national football team, Li Xiaopeng, joined as the club's new position as general manager. In this period of relative calm in the transfer window, Li Xiaopeng's return undoubtedly brought a lot of surprises to fans, marking his official exit from the trough of national team coaching and his return to the center of the stage of Chinese football.
For Li Xiaopeng, Cangzhou Lions is undoubtedly a place full of memories and opportunities. In his early coaching career, although he suffered setbacks in the Chinese women's football team and Qingdao Zhongneng, he then found his stage in Shijiazhuang Yongchang (the predecessor of Cangzhou Lions), and successfully led the team to create a dark horse legend in the 2015 Chinese Super League as general manager. This experience not only proved his managerial skills, but also laid a solid foundation for his later career.
After leaving Shijiazhuang, Li Xiaopeng returned to Shandong Luneng, starting from a management position, and gradually promoted to the head coach of the team, during which he won the best head coach award in the Chinese Super League, showing his coaching talent. However, the experience of coaching the national team has become a low point in his career, especially the failure to lead the national football team to successfully impact the World Cup, which put him under great pressure in public opinion. Despite this, Li Xiaopeng did not give up, and after a period of precipitation and reflection, he chose to set off again and join the Cangzhou Lions to open a new chapter.
Since resigning as the coach of the national football team, Li Xiaopeng has faded out of the public eye, and few news has come out. Joining the Cangzhou Lions this time is not only an important turning point in his personal career, but also has triggered a lot of speculation about his future role. In view of the recent poor performance of the Cangzhou Lions under the leadership of Zhao Junzhe, there is a view that Li Xiaopeng's joining may indicate the adjustment and change of the club's coaching team in the future, and whether he may succeed Zhao Junzhe as the new helm of the team has become a hot topic among fans.
In short, Li Xiaopeng's appointment as the general manager of Cangzhou Lions is an important step for him to return to Chinese football, and it also brings new hope and expectation to the club. In the future, how he will use his experience and wisdom to lead the Cangzhou Lions out of the trough and return to the ranks of the strong team, let us wait and see.