Gao Lin (; born 14 February 1986) is a Chinese former professional footballer who played as a forward. He is the all-time top goalscorer for Guangzhou Evergrande with 113 goals, and has also made the most appearances for the club. Gao is considered one of China's most technical strikers and is known by the nickname Gao Linsmann (; ).

Club career

Shanghai Shenhua

Gao Lin started his football career with

Shanghai Shenhua Shanghai Shenhua Football Club () is a Chinese professional football club based in Shanghai, that competes in . Shanghai Shenhua plays its home matches at the Shanghai Stadium, located within Xuhui District. The owner of Shanghai Shenhua is ...

in 2005 where he made his league debut on 21 August 2005 in a 1–0 win against Liaoning Zhongyu, coming on as a substitute for

Xie Hui Xie Hui (謝晦) (390–426), courtesy name Xuanming (宣明), was a high-level general of the Chinese Liu Song dynasty, who, along with his colleagues Xu Xianzhi and Fu Liang, deposed Emperor Shao after the death of Emperor Wu (Liu Yu) due ...

. While his height and heading ability were quickly utilized, Gao was unable to establish himself as an immediate first team regular within the team throughout the subsequent seasons and often found himself playing on the flanks. It was only once Xie left Shanghai at the end of the 2007 league season before Gao started to really establish himself as a regular first team member, playing as striker once more. In the 2008 season, he would score eight goals in 21 league appearances to help guide Shanghai to a runners-up position. Despite having his most productive season with Shanghai and establishing himself within the Chinese national team. Gao's contract was up for renewal and his club would transfer list him in early 2009. This saw him linked with his hometown club of Henan Construction as well as K-League club Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors; however, nothing materialized from these rumours after Gao decided to eventually stay at the club when it was announced that Shanghai and Gao had come to terms about a contract renewal which would expire in 2012.

Guangzhou Evergrande

On 10 March 2010, Gao transferred to Guangzhou Evergrande, who were newly relegated to

China League One The Chinese Football League 1 (), also known as China League One or Chinese Jia League (), is the second level of professional football in China, under the Chinese Super League. The league is under the auspices of the Chinese Football Association ...

in the fallout of a match-fixing scandal. However, the club's new owners, Evergrande Real Estate Group, were able to tempt Gao with a lucrative 3,000,000 yuan a year deal to play within the second tier. He made his debut for the club on 3 April 2010 in a 3–1 against Beijing BIT, also scoring his first two goals for the club. On 30 October 2010, Guangzhou successfully finished as second tier champions for the second time with a 3–1 win against

Hunan Billows Hunan Billows Football Club () is a Chinese professional football club based in Changsha, Hunan. Historically, Hunan Billows has played its home matches at various grounds across their home province, and last played at the Loudi Sports Center in ...

. Gao's first half hat-trick in this match ensured that he finished the season as the second tier top goalscorer, having scored 20 goals. Although Guangzhou signed several players to strengthened the team's attacking power including Darío Conca and Cléo in the 2011 season, Gao was still a regular in the team, playing mostly as a left winger and scoring 11 goals in 29 appearances. Guangzhou eventually won the top tier league title for the first time in the club's history as Gao won his first top tier league title with the club. Gao scored his first goal of the season on 15 May 2012 in a 2–1 win against Buriram United in the

2012 AFC Champions League The 2012 AFC Champions League was the 31st edition of the top-level Asian club football tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), and the 10th under the current AFC Champions League title. Ulsan Hyundai from South Korea wo ...

, ending a goal drought that stretched 1403 minutes. On 20 May 2012, he scored his first league goal of the season in a 1–0 win against Qingdao Jonoon which ended a run of 936 minutes without a goal in the league. On 27 October 2012, Gao scored the decisive goal, assisted by Conca, in injury time in a 1–0 win against

Liaoning Whowin Liaoning Football Club (), officially known as Liaoning Hongyun (), was a professional association football club with a long history in Chinese football. The club can predate their formation to 1953, when Shenyang government sports body joined ex ...

to give Guangzhou their second top tier league title and they became the first team ever in the league's history to defend the title. In the first leg of the 2012 Chinese FA Cup final, Gao received two yellow cards in less than three minutes at the start of the 80th minute. The first yellow card was for dissent on a questionable tackle. The second one came after protesting and dissent which earned him a red card and suspended him from playing in the second leg. On 12 November 2012, Gao was fined by the CFA for $200,000 for his actions in the first leg of the final. Later, Gao took to Weibo to publicly apologize to his millions of followers and said he "deserved to be punished" because it will help him "to not do it again in the future". Later in November 2012, he was selected as one of the two forwards in the 2012 Chinese Super League Team of the Year alongside Cristian Dănălache of Jiangsu Sainty. During the 2013 season, his role shifted from an attacking role to an assister as he provided many assists to the foreign contingent of Elkeson, Dario Conca and Muriqui. Throughout both the 2013 season and

2013 AFC Champions League The 2013 AFC Champions League was the 32nd edition of the top-level Asian club football tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), and the 11th under the current AFC Champions League title. The defending champions, Ulsan ...

, his style of play included more flair as he attempted bicycle kicks and back-heel passes which many plaudits lauded. Gao was a cog in the engine of Guangzhou as he helped it through its golden year to win its third successive top tier league title. In the league-winning game, he scored the third goal for the club on 6 October 2013 in a 4–2 win against

Shandong Luneng Shandong Taishan Football Club () is a Chinese professional football club based in Jinan, Shandong, that competes in . Shandong Taishan plays its home matches at the Jinan Olympic Sports Center Stadium, located within Lixia District. Their c ...

. This was the second time in which Gao has scored in a league-winning game.

Shenzhen F.C.

On 24 February 2020, Gao signed for Shenzhen F.C. on a free transfer. He made his debutt and scored his first goal for the club on 26 July 2020 in 3–0 win against Guangzhou R&F.

International career

Gao was part of the squad in the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

where he played in all three group games and started in the first two games as the Chinese under-23 national team were knocked out in the group stage. Gao made his debut for the Chinese national team against

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

on 31 July 2005 in the 2005 East Asian Football Championship where he was sent off mistakenly by referee

Yuichi Nishimura is a Japanese football referee. He has refereed in the Japanese J. League Division 1 since 1999 and has been a full international referee for FIFA since 2004. He refereed at the 2010 FIFA World Cup, where he was appointed to several prestigio ...

; The

East Asian Football Federation The East Asian Football Federation (EAFF), founded on 28 May 2002, is an international governing body of association football, football in East Asia. Presidents Member associations EAFF has 10 member associations. All of them are members of th ...

cancelled Gao's red card and apologized to him the next day. After that inauspicious start to his international career, Gao started to impose himself within the team, and despite making his debut in 2005 for the national team, Gao had to wait until 21 January 2009 to score his first goal in a 6–1 win against

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

during

2011 AFC Asian Cup qualification The 2011 AFC Asian Cup qualification saw various countries take part to determine 10 spots to the final tournament in Qatar under the new qualification system set by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). Six other teams also qualified for th ...

, scoring a hat-trick. Gao scored in a 3–0 win against

during the 2010 East Asian Football Championship, helping China beat South Korea for the first time ever. Gao captained the national team for the first time on 22 February 2012 in a 2–0 win against

Kuwait Kuwait, officially the State of Kuwait, is a country in West Asia and the geopolitical region known as the Middle East. It is situated in the northern edge of the Arabian Peninsula at the head of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to Iraq–Kuwait ...

. On 10 September 2018, Gao won his 100th cap for China in a 0–0 draw against

Bahrain Bahrain, officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, is an island country in West Asia. Situated on the Persian Gulf, it comprises a small archipelago of 50 natural islands and an additional 33 artificial islands, centered on Bahrain Island, which mak ...

, making him the fifth Chinese man to win 100 caps.

Personal life

Gao married Wang Chen, who is a reporter and host for Shenzhen Media Group, on 3 September 2013. Gao's childhood idol is the revered German striker

Jürgen Klinsmann Jürgen Klinsmann (; born 30 July 1964) is a German professional Association football, football manager and former player. He played for several prominent clubs in Europe including VfB Stuttgart, Inter Milan, AS Monaco FC, Monaco, Tottenham Hot ...

. He prefers to wear the kit number 18 while playing for the Chinese national team in honour of Klinsmann. While at the

2008 Beijing Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

, he wore the kit number 9, which was also worn by Klinsmann during the 1998 Seoul Olympics.

Career statistics

Club statistics

International statistics

International goals

:''Scores and results list China's goal tally first.''

Honours

Club

A3 Champions Cup A3 Champions Cup (also known as East Asian Champions Cup) was an annual football (soccer) tournament jointly organized by the China PR, Japan and Korea Republic football Association. It began in 2003, involving the league champions of Chinese Supe ...

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

Guangzhou Evergrande *

Chinese Super League The Chinese Football Super League (), commonly known as the Chinese Super League or the CSL (), also known as the China Resources Beverage Chinese Football Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Ch ...

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

AFC Champions League The AFC Champions League Elite (abbreviated as the ACL Elite) is an annual continental club association football, football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation, and contested by Asia's List of top-division football clubs i ...

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

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 ...

* Chinese FA Super Cup:

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

International

China PR national football team * East Asian Football Championship:

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

Individual

Top Goalscorer:

Team of the Year:

References

External links

Player profile and news
at Sina.com *
Player stats
at Sohu.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Gao, Lin 1986 births Living people Chinese men's footballers Footballers from Henan Olympic footballers for China Sportspeople from Zhengzhou China men's international footballers 21st-century Chinese sportsmen Shanghai Shenhua F.C. players Guangzhou F.C. players Shenzhen F.C. players Men's association football forwards Chinese Super League players China League One players Footballers at the 2006 Asian Games Footballers at the 2008 Summer Olympics 2011 AFC Asian Cup players 2015 AFC Asian Cup players 2019 AFC Asian Cup players FIFA Men's Century Club Asian Games competitors for China AFC Champions League Elite–winning players