Quick Facts
Biography
Gong Lei (Chinese: 宫磊) (born October 15, 1965) is a Chinese football Head coach currently at Chinese Super League side Guizhou Renhe as well as also being a former player and a media pundit. As a player, he was predominantly remembered for his time at the Beijing Team as well as Tahiti club AS Pirae before he retired and moved into coaching. His first coaching position would be with Gansu Tianma F.C. where he had a short spell with them before becoming an assistant at Shaanxi Zhongjian.
Playing career
As a youth player Gong Lei was considered a promising youngster and was part of the Beijing Football Team that won the 1984 Chinese Jia-A League title. This soon saw him called up to the Chinese U-20 team squad that took part in the 1985 FIFA World Youth Championship, where China were knocked out in the quarter-finals on September 1, 1985 by the Soviet Union. After several seasons with Beijing, Gong then went abroad to Tahiti and joined AS Pirae, where he experienced significant success by winning several league and cup titles with them.He was nominated for FIFA World Player of the Year in 1993 and is the only Chinese football player to be nominated for this award. Nearing the end of his career, he then spent a short time with Canadian club Toronto Lynx, Hong Kong team South China, Toronto Olympians and Beijing Kuanli before he retired.
Managerial career
Gong became a football commentator and pundit in 2002, providing analysis to CCTV sports channel for La Liga before he gained his first Head coaching position with second tier Chinese club Gansu Tianma F.C. before the start of the 2003 league season. The club had high expectations for the season after they brought in English international Paul Gascoigne into the team, however Gong lost his influential marquee player after the clubs owners had a dispute with the player over wages. This saw results decline and the club's owners decided to move to Ningbo, rename themselves Ningbo Yaoma while ending the campaign in a disappointing 11th-place finish before Gong left the team.
After several years out of management Gong returned as an assistant coach to top tier club Shaanxi Chanba in 2007 before becoming the caretaker manager after the clubs manager Cheng Yaodong resigned from the team. Gong's return to Head coaching was brief and Zhu Guanghu was soon brought in while he returned to his assistant duties. Gong would work with several further managers and stayed with the club as they moved to Guizhou and renamed themselves Guizhou Renhe before the owners asked him to be the caretaker manager once again while the club looked for a new manager before the start of the 2013 league campaign. The club did not bring anyone in before the start of the season and results under Gong improved over the course of the campaign, which resulted him guiding the club to their first ever Chinese FA Cup when they beat Guangzhou Evergrande F.C. in the 2013 Chinese FA Cup final.
On June 3rd 2016 Gong Lei was named as vice-president of Suning Sports Group which had just bought a controlling stake in Inter Milan.
Honours
As a player
Club
Beijing Team
- Chinese Jia-A League Champions(1): 1984
- FA Cup Champions(1): 1985
AS Pirae
- Tahiti Division Fédérale Champions(3): 1991, 1993, 1994
- Tahiti Coupe des Champions Champions(1): 1996
- Tahiti Cup Champions(2): 1994, 1996
- Coupe de Polynésie Champions(2): 1994, 1996
Toronto Olympians
- Open Canada Cup (1): 1998
- Canadian Professional Soccer League Regular Season Champions (1): 1998
National team
China U-20 national football team
- AFC U-19 Championship Champions(1):1985
Individual
- Tahiti Division Fédérale Golden Boot awardee(2): 1994, 1995
- Tahiti Division Fédérale Player of the Year(2): 1994, 1995
As a manager
Guizhou Renhe
- Chinese FA Cup: 2013