Su Maozhen's career as a footballer has been as bright as the stars. In 2000, he was named Asian Footballer of the Year, among the world's soccer stars, participated in the World Peace Football Festival, and was awarded the highest honorary medal of the National Sports Medal. In a brilliant nine-year career, Su Maozhen scored 65 league goals for Shandong Luneng Taishan, making him the Golden Boot scorer in the team's history.
However, at the age of 30, Cebu Maozhen suddenly announced his retirement due to the conflict with the club's chairman Dong Miao. After his retirement, he traveled to England to further his education, not only obtaining his C and B coaching certificates, but also obtaining a master's degree in business management at Salford University, laying a solid foundation for his future coaching career.
After returning to China, Su Maozhen started his coaching career. He successively coached the U17 youth team of Luneng Soccer School, China National Youth Football Team and Qingdao Sea Bulls. During the coaching period in the national youth team, he had the unique vision to discover and cultivate Wu Lei, Zhang Xunzhe and other talented players, who later became the backbone of the national team. Especially on Wu Lei's appreciation and cultivation, Su Maozhen unique vision, although Wu Lei is not tall, physical fitness is not an advantage, but because of his favor to become the main striker of the national youth team.
After leaving the National Youth Football League, Cebu moved on to become the head coach of Qingdao Sea Bulls, leading the team to a successful relegation. Since then, he has also coached China's first division teams such as Qingdao Yellow Sea and Beijing Sport University. Last season, he returned to the Qingdao Manatees as head of the Chinese coaching staff.
The latest news shows that Su Maozhen is expected to return to Shandong Taishan, and may even enter the club management. Since Jinan Culture and Tourism took over Taishan, the internal management has been chaotic, leading to frequent problems for the team. Last season, the team made a series of mistakes in signing and training, and eventually finished fifth in the league. After losing the AFC Cup final, the team completely lost the chance to advance to the AFC Champions League.
Now, Cebu returned to Taishan, will provide valuable experience for the club management, to assist the coach Cui Kangxi to introduce strength foreign aid. Help Taishan quickly out of the doldrums, back to the ranks of the championship, and next season once again to the Chinese Super League title!
