Shao Jiayi (; born 10 April 1980) is a Chinese professional

football manager ''Football Manager'', also known as ''Worldwide Soccer Manager'' in North America from 2004 to 2008, is a series of football management simulation video games developed by British developer Sports Interactive and published by Sega. The game beg ...

and a former professional

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 a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

. He is the head coach of

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 ...

club Qingdao West Coast. He represented

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 ...

(two spells),

TSV 1860 Munich , commonly known as TSV 1860 München (; ''sechzig'' locally ; lettered as ) or 1860 Munich, is a sports club based in Munich. The club's association football, football team plays in the 3. Liga, the third tier of German football league system ...

Energie Cottbus FC Energie Cottbus (Lower Sorbian: ''Energija Chóśebuz'') is a Football in Germany, German football club based in Cottbus, Brandenburg. It was founded in 1963 as SC Cottbus in what was East Germany. After the German reunification, reunificatio ...

and

MSV Duisburg Meidericher Spielverein 02 e. V. Duisburg, commonly known as simply MSV Duisburg (), is a Football in Germany, German association football club based in Duisburg, North Rhine-Westphalia. Nicknamed ''Die Zebras'' for their traditional striped jer ...

as well as the China national team with which he participated in the

2000 AFC Asian Cup The 2000 AFC Asian Cup was the 12th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The finals were held in Lebanon between 12 and 29 October 2000. Japan def ...

2002 FIFA World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea/Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...

and

2004 AFC Asian Cup The 2004 AFC Asian Cup was the 13th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international association football, football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It was held from 17 July to 7 August 2004 in China. ...

Club career

Shao Jiayi started his football career in the 1999 league season playing for top-tier side

where then manager Shen Xiangfu promoted him to the first team. Despite a change in management with

Milovan Đorić Milovan Đorić (Serbian Cyrillic alphabet, Serbian Cyrillic: Милован Ђорић; born 6 August 1945) is a Serbian association football, football manager and former player. He is often referred to by his nickname Bata Đora. Đorić last ...

and Wei Kexing coming in the following season, Shao gradually started to establish himself as regular within the team and due to his commanding presence in centre midfield, he was touted as one of the most exciting players in Chinese football. He then helped guide the club to the 2000

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 ...

final where they lost 4–2 on aggregate against

Chongqing Lifan Chongqing Previously romanized as Chungking ();. is a direct-administered municipality in Southwestern China. Chongqing is one of the four direct-administered municipalities under the Central People's Government, along with Beijing, Shanghai ...

. After his breakout 2000 season, Shao became a vital member of the team's midfield and once again helped guide the club to another Chinese FA Cup final in 2001 where this time they faced Dalian Shide, losing 4–1 on aggregate. After playing in the

, Shao gathered enough attention to impress

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

side

1860 Munich , commonly known as TSV 1860 München (; ''sechzig'' locally ; lettered as ) or 1860 Munich, is a sports club based in Munich. The club's football team plays in the 3. Liga, the third tier of the German football pyramid. Their current home gr ...

, who signed him on four-year loan deal from Beijing. A permanent transfer was made on 14 January 2003, reported to be approximately €1.3 million. Shao played there for three-and-a-half seasons before transferring to

, signing a three-year contract on 13 July 2006. He scored his first goals for Energie Cottbus at home against

Hertha BSC Hertha, Berliner Sport-Club e. V., commonly known as Hertha BSC () or Hertha Berlin, is a German professional football club based in Berlin. Hertha BSC plays in the 2. Bundesliga, the second tier of German football league system, German footbal ...

and away to

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, often known simply as Borussia Dortmund () or by its initialism BVB (), or just Dortmund by International fans, is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is ...

after coming on as a substitute in both matches. After extending his stay with Energie Cottbus for two more seasons, on 30 June 2011, Shao signed with 2. Bundesliga side

and made his debut for the club on 17 July 2011 in a 3–2 loss against

Karlsruher SC Karlsruher Sport-Club Mühlburg-Phönix e. V., better known as Karlsruher SC, is a Football in Germany, German association football club, based in Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg that currently plays in the 2. Bundesliga, the second tier of Germa ...

. On 13 December 2011, Shao returned to the

to rejoin his former club Beijing Guoan after playing nine years in Germany. On 29 October 2015, Shao announced that he had decided to retire from football.

International career

Shao's performances with

led to him being called up by then manager

Bora Milutinović Velibor "Bora" Milutinović ( sr-Cyrl, Велибор Бора Милутиновић; born 7 September 1944) is a Serbian former professional footballer and manager. He has managed at five editions of the FIFA World Cup, tied for the record al ...

to the Chinese national team and was included in the squad that placed fourth in the

. Shao found more success with the national team when he was included in the squad that secured qualification for the

. At the tournament, he played in two games – receiving a red card against

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

– while China were knocked out of the group stage. Shao was also a key player for the national team in the

where he scored three goals during the tournament which led China to finish as runners-up.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list China's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Shao goal''.

Honours

Individual *

AFC Asian Cup The AFC Asian Cup is the primary association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), determining the continental champion of Asia. It is the second-oldest c ...

All-Star Team:

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

Chinese Jia-A League The National Football Jia A League (simplified Chinese: 全国足球甲A联赛), commonly known as Jia-A, was the highest tier of professional football in the People's Republic of China, during 1994 through 2003, operating under the auspices of th ...

Team of the Year:

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

* AFC Asian Cup Fans' All Time Best XI: 2018

References

External links

Our 2010 target
Shao Jiayi, FIFA, 29 October 2007 * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Shao, Jiayi 1980 births Living people Chinese men's footballers Footballers from Beijing China men's international footballers 21st-century Chinese sportsmen Men's association football midfielders 2002 FIFA World Cup players 2000 AFC Asian Cup players 2004 AFC Asian Cup players 2007 AFC Asian Cup players Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Chinese Super League players Beijing Guoan F.C. players TSV 1860 Munich players FC Energie Cottbus players MSV Duisburg players Chinese expatriate men's footballers Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players Regionalliga players Chinese expatriate sportspeople in Germany Beijing Guoan F.C. non-playing staff