Li Ming

Li Ming may refer to:

Li Ming (footballer, born 1971)

Li Ming (Chinese: 李明; pinyin: Lǐ Míng; born January 26, 1971) is a former Chinese international footballer and the current the manager of China national under-20 football team. As a footballer he was a highly respected player who played his whole career for Dalian Wanda FC and was part of the team that dominated Chinese football by winning eight league titles with them. His international career saw him play for the Chinese national team throughout the 1990s and early 2000s where he was widely acknowledged as one of the most technically gifted Chinese players ever.

Football career

Li Ming was born in Jinan, Shandong. Starting his football career in 1989 Li Ming would spend his entire football career with Dalian Wanda FC. With them he would help establish himself as their first choice right-midfielder, however it wasn't until the 1994 league season when Dalian would win their first professional league title that they would establish themselves as the dominant team within China for severals seasons. From 1994 to 2002 Dalian would win a staggering eight league titles, Li Ming was one of the stars of the Dalian Wanda team that went the entire 1996 league season without losing a single domestic league game.

Li Ming (footballer, born 1975)

Li Ming (Chinese: 李明; pinyin: Li Míng; born May 4, 1975 in Qingdao) is an assistant coach and a former Chinese international footballer. As a player he holds the distinction of being the first professional player to win the Chinese league championship at two different clubs, his first as a key member of the Shandong Luneng's 1999 championship voyage and then as a member of Shenzhen Jianlibao's championship squad in 2004. After retiring he would have a short stint as an assistant coach for Shanghai Stars and he moved away from football until October 17, 2010 saw him detained by the police for his involvement in fixing a league game during his time at Shanghai International in a match against Tianjin Teda F.C. on November 30, 2003 and was sentenced to five and a half years imprisonment on June 13, 2012.

Club career

Li Ming started his football career with top tier side Shandong Luneng in the 1994 Chinese Jia-A League campaign, which was the inaugural season of fully professional football within China. With Shandong he had established himself as a key member of the team and by the 1999 league season he had won the league title and Chinese FA Cup with them. By the 2001 league season Li Ming had lost his starting position within the team where he was limited to only five games and after a disappointing campaign he was allowed to leave the club. At the beginning of the 2002 league season he would transfer to another top tier side in Beijing Guoan where he would immediately establish himself as a vital member of the team and helped the club to a third-place finish.