Wu Chengying (; born 21 April 1975 in

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

) is a Chinese former international football player who spent the majority of his career at

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 ...

where he won the league and

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 ...

before moving to Shanghai International for a then Chinese record fee of 13,000,000 RMB in 2003. Internationally he was a member of the Chinese national team where he participated in the

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

and

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 ...

as well also the

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 ...

Playing career

Wu Chengying emerged with future Chinese internationals Shen Si,

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 ...

and Qi Hong form

where he was predominantly used in the left back position. During his spell at Shanghai Shenhua the team claimed the 1995 Chinese Jia-A League title and the 1998

. In February 1998, he was loaned to Dalian Wanda for half a month for the

1997–98 Asian Club Championship The 1997–98 Asian Club Championship was the 17th edition of the annual international club football competition held in the AFC region (Asia). It determined that year's club champion of association football in Asia. Pohang Steelers of South ...

and scored a goal against

Pohang Steelers The Pohang Steelers (Hangul: 포항 스틸러스) are a South Korean professional Association football, football club based in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province that compete in the K League 1, the top flight of Football in South Korea, South Ko ...

. He attracted the interests of Italian side

Calcio Como Como 1907 () is an Italian professional football club based in Como, Lombardy. The club competes in the Serie A, the first tier of Italian football league system, Italian football, after achieving promotion in the 2023–24 Serie B, 2023–24 Se ...

in January 2002 but the

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

club failed to reach an agreement with Shanghai Shenhua. Wu Chengying instead joined Shanghai International later in 2003 for 13,000,000 RMB, which made him the highest Chinese transfer ever in Chinese football history. At Shanghai International he would see them come second in the 2003 league season and third in the following campaign. When his contract expired at the end of the 2006 league season, Wu decided to announce his retirement from playing.

International career

After his performances for Shanghai Shenhua saw him win the league title he was included on the squad that went to the

1996 AFC Asian Cup The 1996 AFC Asian Cup was the 11th 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 the United Arab Emirates between 4 and 21 Decembe ...

and became a regular within the team. During

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 ...

's reign as the Chinese head coach Wu Chengying became China's first choice left back despite having an indifferent relationship with several regular players such as Ou Chuliang and Li Jinyu, who described him as extremely introverted. Despite his indifferent relationship with his teammates Wu was a regular starter for the national team playing in the

and

until Bora Milutinović's reign as the Chinese national team ended.

Career statistics

International goals

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

Honours

Club

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 ...

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

: 1998

Individual

*Asian Goal of the Month: February 1998

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wu, Chengying 1975 births Living people Chinese men's footballers Footballers from Shanghai China men's international footballers 2002 FIFA World Cup players 1996 AFC Asian Cup players 2000 AFC Asian Cup players Shanghai Shenhua F.C. players Beijing Chengfeng F.C. players Dalian Shide F.C. players Chinese Super League players Men's association football defenders