Gao Leilei (

Simplified Chinese Simplification, Simplify, or Simplified may refer to: Mathematics Simplification is the process of replacing a mathematical expression by an equivalent one that is simpler (usually shorter), according to a well-founded ordering. Examples include: ...

: 高雷雷; born 15 July 1980) is a Chinese retired

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played as an

attacking midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

Career

China

Gao began his professional career with top tier club

Wuhan Wuhan; is the capital of Hubei, China. With a population of over eleven million, it is the most populous city in Hubei and the List of cities in China by population, eighth-most-populous city in China. It is also one of the nine National cent ...

in 1998, before moving to fellow top tier club

Beijing Guoan Beijing Guoan Football Club (), known in AFC competitions as Beijing FC, is a Chinese professional football club based in Beijing, that competes in . Beijing Guoan plays its home matches at the Workers' Stadium, located within Chaoyang Distr ...

in 1999. It was with Beijing Guoan that Gao first gained the public notice of Chinese football community when he scored the equaliser against

Liaoning ) , image_skyline = , image_alt = , image_caption = Clockwise: Mukden Palace in Shenyang, Xinghai Square in Dalian, Dalian coast, Yalu River at Dandong , image_map = Liaoning in China (+all claims hatched).svg , ...

in the final game of the season to deny them the 1999 Jia-A League title. At Guoan he would win the

2003 Chinese FA Cup The Pabst Blue Ribbon 2003 China FA Cup () was the 9th edition of Chinese FA Cup. The cup title sponsor is China Pabst Blue Ribbon. Results First round Zone A, Group 1 Zone A, Group 2 Zone B, Group 1 Zon ...

with the club and score in the quarter-final and semi-finals of the tournament, despite not appearing in the final itself. After spending eight years in total at Guoan, making 121 appearances for the team and scoring 11 goals he would leave the team.

New Zealand and Finland

Towards the end of the 2006 season, Gao expressed his wish to leave the team and seek other options. There were speculations that Gao was going to a team in the

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commonly known as Segunda División or La Liga 2, and officially known as LaLiga HyperMotion for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spa ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

, but in December 2006 he was loaned to

A-League A-League Men, also known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional soccer league in Australia and New Zealand and the highest level of the Australian soccer league system. Established in 2004 as the A-League by the ...

club

New Zealand Knights New Zealand Knights Football Club (formed from the Football Kingz Football Club in 2004) were the only professional association football club in New Zealand before they became defunct. Based in Auckland, New Zealand, they played in the A-League ...

for a short period. Gao made this debut in the

for the Knights on December 3, 2006 against

Newcastle Jets Newcastle United Jets Football Club, commonly known as Newcastle Jets, is an Australian professional soccer club based in Newcastle, New South Wales. It competes in the country's premier competition, the A-League, under licence from the Australi ...

, and scored his first

goal in his second match against

Adelaide United Adelaide United Football Club is a professional men's soccer club located in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. The club was one of the eight founding members of the A-League Men and have competed in it concurrently since its formation, u ...

. Following the dissolution of the Knights franchise, Gao moved to Finland and signed with team MyPa, and in doing so became the first Chinese footballer to play in the

Veikkausliiga Veikkausliiga () is a professional association football league in Finland and the highest level of the Finnish football league system. The league comprises the top 12 clubs of the country. Its main sponsor is the Finnish national betting agenc ...

. Gao made his debut against

FC Honka FC Honka is a Finland, Finnish Association football, football club based in Espoo. It was founded in 1957 as Tapion Honka, and changed its name to FC Honka in 1975. The club will play in Kakkonen in the 2024 season, after Esport Honka filed for ...

as a substitute on April 22, 2007, and made his first start for against TPS Turku on April 26, 2007. On March 18, 2008, Gao signed a one-year contract with New Zealand club

Wellington Phoenix Wellington Phoenix Football Club is a professional football club based in Wellington, New Zealand. It competes in the Australian A-League Men, under licence from Football Federation Australia. Phoenix entered the competition in the 2007–08 ...

, rejoining his former manager from the Knights,

Ricki Herbert Ricki Lloyd Herbert (born 10 April 1961) is a New Zealand former footballer and manager. He is the current director of football at Hamilton Wanderers AFC. Herbert was formerly head coach of the New Zealand national team, stepping down after ...

. However, Gao's contract with the New Zealand club was terminated after a reported disagreement with the front office after just 8 games. Gao was linked with a move to A-League club

Perth Glory Perth Glory Football Club is an Australian professional Association football, soccer club based in Perth, Perth, Western Australia. It competes in the country's premier men's competition, A-League Men, under Professional sports league organi ...

after training with the club, but was not signed. On July 3, 2009, Gao returned to Beijing and signed a short contract with

Beijing Hongdeng Beijing Hongdeng (Simplified Chinese: 北京宏登) was a professional football club located in Beijing, China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population ex ...

but, after just one month with the team, he transferred to Finland again signing with

FC KooTeePee FC KooTeePee was a Finnish football club. History Originally, FC KooTeePee was founded as a reserve team of Kotkan Työväen Palloilijat (KTP, founded 1927). In the year 2000, it became an independent club. At that time, Kotkan Työväen Pal ...

. He made his debut for FC KooTeePee on August 16, 2009 against

AC Oulu AC Oulu is a Finnish professional football club based in Oulu, currently playing in Finland's premier division, ''Veikkausliiga''. Formed in 2002, the club have played six seasons in Finland's highest football league Veikkausliiga and 16 seasons ...

United States

On March 22, 2010 Gao landed in his fourth country when signed with

NSC Minnesota Stars NSC may refer to: Banking and investment * National Sort Code, an Irish bank code * Nomura Securities Co, an investment bank Computing * National Software Centre, an Irish organization * National Supercomputer Centre in Sweden * NetShow Cha ...

of the American

USSF Division 2 Professional League The USSF Division 2 Professional League (D2 Pro League) was a temporary professional soccer league created by the United States Soccer Federation (USSF) for the 2010 season. The twelve-team league was formed as a compromise between the feuding U ...

. He was released by the team on June 29, 2010, having never really settled in Minnesota, and having scored just one goal in ten games for the Stars.

Return to China

Gao returned to Beijing again and joined Beijing Baxy in July 2010. He scored his first goal on the first appearance, in a 3-0 home win against Anhui Jiufang. Gao announced his retirement from professional football due to problems with injuries on 6 March 2011.

Spain

Gao made his return to football in January 2016, signing a half-year contract with

Segunda División B Segunda División B (English: second division B) was the third tier of the Spanish football league system containing 102 teams divided into five groups, until it was replaced by the new structure in 2021. It was administered by the Royal Spanish ...

side Cornellà. On March 19, 2016, he made his debut for Cornellà in a 2–0 home victory against Espanyol B. He extended his contract with Cornellà for one year in the summer of 2016. In August 2017, he extended his contract again for another year. On 9 January 2019, Gao joined

FC Jumilla Fútbol Club Jumilla was a Spanish football team based in Jumilla, in the autonomous community of Murcia. Founded in 2011, it played in Segunda División B – Group 4, holding home matches at '' Estadio Municipal de La Hoya''. Between 2016 and ...

. On 20 August 2019, Gao signed a six-month deal with

SD Ponferradina Sociedad Deportiva Ponferradina, S.A.D. is a Spanish football team based in Ponferrada, in the El Bierzo region, in the autonomous community of Castile and León. Founded on 7 June 1922, it plays in Primera Federación - Group 1, holding home ma ...

, due to a sponsorship deal. The following 12 January, he signed another short-term deal with another team from the second division,

Extremadura UD Extremadura Unión Deportiva was a Spanish football team based in Almendralejo, in the autonomous community of Extremadura. Founded in 2007, it last played in Primera División RFEF – Group 1, holding home games at '' Estadio Francisco de la ...

. He was controversially given the number 19 shirt that had been retired since the death of

José Antonio Reyes José Antonio Reyes Calderón (; 1 September 1983 – 1 June 2019) was a Spanish professional footballer who played mainly as a left winger and also as a forward. He made his debut for Sevilla aged 16 and signed for English club Arsenal in J ...

the previous June; this error was rectified by the club. In July 2020, Gao announced his retirement from professional football.

Honours

Beijing Guoan *

Chinese FA Cup The Chinese FA Cup (, abbreviated as CFA Cup) is the national knockout cup competition in China organized by the Chinese Football Association. The current holders are Shanghai Port, having beaten Shandong Taishan in 2024 for their first title. H ...

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

Chinese Football Super Cup The Chinese FA Super Cup (), formerly named Chinese Football Super Cup (), is a Chinese association football, football super cup competition that takes place every year before the start of the new season. It is contested between the champions of t ...

References

External links

*
Wellington Phoenix profile

Personal blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gao, Leilei 1980 births Living people Chinese men's footballers Footballers from Beijing Chinese Super League players China League One players 21st-century Chinese sportsmen A-League Men players Veikkausliiga players USSF Division 2 Professional League players Segunda División B players Wuhan Optics Valley F.C. players Beijing Guoan F.C. players Beijing Sport University F.C. players New Zealand Knights FC players Wellington Phoenix FC players Myllykosken Pallo −47 players Minnesota United FC (2010–2016) players UE Cornellà players FC Jumilla players SD Ponferradina players Extremadura UD footballers Expatriate men's association footballers in New Zealand Expatriate men's footballers in Finland Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Chinese expatriate men's footballers Chinese expatriate sportspeople in New Zealand Chinese expatriate sportspeople in Finland Chinese expatriate sportspeople in Spain Men's association football midfielders