Gu Chao (; born 20 August 1989) is a Chinese former professional footballer. He was later banned from football-related activities in China for life over allegations of match-fixing and other forms of corruption.

Club career

Gu Chao joined the Genbao Football Academy in 2000 and was promoted to Shanghai East Asia's first team squad during the 2006 season. He played regularly as the starting goalkeeper and made an impression within the team as Shanghai won promotion to the second tier in the 2007 season. On 15 March 2011, Gu transferred to

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 ...

side Hangzhou Greentown for a fee of ¥2 million. On 6 July 2011, he made his debut for Hangzhou in a 1–1 away draw against Dalian Shide. He mainly played as the backup goalkeeper for Jiang Bo in the 2011 season and 2012 season. However, it was not until the 2014 season when Gu cemented his role as the team's starting goalkeeper. On 31 December 2015, Gu moved to Chinese Super League side Jiangsu Suning on a five-year contract with a transfer fee of ¥50 million, which being above Wang Dalei's transfer record fee of ¥30 million, made him the most expensive goalkeeper in China. He played as a back-up for Zhang Sipeng at the beginning of the season. Gu made his debut for Jiangsu on 9 April 2016 in a 1–0 win against Henan Jianye. He became the first choice goalkeeper of the club after the match. At the end of the 2020 Chinese Super League he would repay the club by winning the league title with them. On 28 February 2021, the parent company of the club

Suning Holdings Group Suning Holdings Group Co., Ltd. () is a Chinese privately held company. The company shared the same founder Zhang Jindong with the listed company Suning.com, but Suning Holdings was the unlisted portion of Zhang's unincorporated Suning Group. Ac ...

announced that operations were going to cease immediately due to financial difficulties. On 15 March 2021, Gu returned to Hangzhou by joining second tier club Zhejiang FC on a free transfer. In his first season back he quickly established himself as a vital member of the team as the club gained promotion to the top tier at the end of the 2021 campaign. On 10 September 2024, Chinese Football Association announced that Gu was banned from football-related activities in China for life for involving in match-fixing.

International career

Gu was called up to the senior

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification – AFC third round 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 ...

and

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

. Gu made his debut for the China on 6 September 2016 in a 0-0 draw against Iran, coming on as a substitute for injury Zeng Cheng in the 12th minute.

Career statistics

''Statistics accurate as of match played 31 January 2023.''顾超
at sodasoccer Retrieved 2015-11-01

Honours

Club

Shanghai East Asia *

China League Two The Chinese Football League 2 (), or China League Two, is the third-tier association football league of the People's Republic of China. The league is under the auspices of the Chinese Football Association and operated by the Chinese Professional ...

: 2007 Jiangsu Suning *

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gu, Chao 1989 births Living people Chinese men's footballers Footballers from Shanghai Shanghai Port F.C. players Zhejiang Professional F.C. players Jiangsu F.C. players Men's association football goalkeepers Chinese Super League players China League One players China League Two players China men's international footballers 21st-century Chinese sportsmen