Liu Haiguang (; born July 11, 1963) is a former Chinese international

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 spent the majority of his career playing for the Shanghai Team, however he gained distinction when he joined Yugoslav club

FK Partizan Fudbalski klub Partizan ( sr-Cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Партизан, ; ), often referred to in English as Partizan Belgrade, is a Serbian professional Football club (association football), football club based in Belgrade. It forms ...

along with Jia Xiuquan making them one of the earliest Chinese footballers to play in Europe.

Biography

Liu Haiguang started his youth career with the Shanghai Team and would soon break into the Chinese U-20 team where he took part in the

1983 FIFA World Youth Championship The 1983 FIFA World Youth Championship was the fourth edition FIFA World Youth Championship tournament, hosted from 2 June to 19 June 1983 in seven venues in Mexico — Guadalajara, Irapuato, León, Mexico City, Monterrey, Puebla and Toluca — w ...

where he scored one goal as China were knocked-out in the group stages. He would soon become a regular for Shanghai and also be promoted to the Chinese senior team where he was included in the squad for the

1984 AFC Asian Cup The 1984 AFC Asian Cup was the 8th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The finals were hosted by Singapore between 1 December and 16 December 198 ...

, which saw China finish runners-up. After establishing himself as a regular for the national team he along with fellow international team mate Jia Xiuquan would join Yugoslav club

and together be one of the earliest Chinese footballers to play in a European club. Liu stayed for two seasons playing in the

Yugoslav First League The Yugoslav First League ( Bosnian: Prva savezna liga u fudbalu, sr-Cyrl-Latn, Прва савезна лига у фудбалу, Prva savezna liga u fudbalu, , , , , ) was the premier football league in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia (1918–1941) ...

where he won the 1988–89 Yugoslav Cup before soon returning to Shanghai. On the international stage he represented China at the

1988 AFC Asian Cup The 1988 AFC Asian Cup was the 9th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international association football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The finals were held in Qatar between 2 December and 18 Decembe ...

and in the

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and officially branded as Seoul 1988 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October 1988 in Seoul, South Korea. 159 nations were represe ...

. When he decided to retire from international football he had scored 36 goals for

China national football team The China national football team ( zh, s=中国国家足球队, t=中國國家足球隊, p=Zhōngguó guójiā zúqiú duì), recognised as China PR by FIFA, represents China in men's international association football and is governed by the Ch ...

making him their top goalscorer. This record would however be broken by Hao Haidong several years later and as of 2024, Liu is the third highest goalscorer.The topscorer for China national football team
/ref> He would retire completely from playing in 1991 and since then has become a businessman and founded 4 children football clubs.

International goals

Honours

Partizan *

Yugoslav Cup The Yugoslav Cup (; ; , ), officially known between 1923 and 1940 as the King Alexander Cup (; , and between 1947 and 1991 as the Marshal Tito Cup (; ; ; ), was one of two major association football, football competitions in Socialist Federal Re ...

: 1988–89 Shanghai Team * Chinese FA Cup: 1991

References

External links

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Sports News Article

International stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Liu, Haiguang 1963 births Living people Chinese men's footballers Footballers from Shanghai China men's international footballers Shanghai Shenhua F.C. players Chinese expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Yugoslavia FK Partizan players Yugoslav First League players Men's association football forwards Footballers at the 1988 Summer Olympics 1988 AFC Asian Cup players Olympic footballers for China Chinese expatriate sportspeople in Yugoslavia Footballers at the 1986 Asian Games Footballers at the 1990 Asian Games Asian Games competitors for China 20th-century Chinese sportsmen