Gao Hongbo

Gao Hongbo (Chinese: 高洪波, born January 25, 1966) is the current coach of Changchun Yatai football club.

Born in Beijing, Gao Hongbo was coached by Xu Genbao in a Beijing sport school. He joined the Beijing Youth Football Team in 1981 and was promoted to the Beijing team (now Beijing Guoan) in 1985. In early 1990s he became a regular starter, but in 1994 he left the team to play in Singapore, citing the difficulty to pass the physical standard test of the football association.

After winning the best scorer in the Singapore league in 1994, Gao Hongbo returned to the new formed Beijing Guoan club and scored 21 times in the following two years. After winning the Chinese FA Cup, he left Beijing Guoan and joined Guangzhou Songri. Xu Genbao, the former coach of the national team and his coach in the Beijing sport school, was coaching Guangzhou Songri at that time.

In the following season Gao Hongbo led the league in scoring with 18 goals, and the team was promoted to Jia A. Xu Genbao left the team to coach the defending champion Dalian Wanda after the season and was replaced by Aristeu Tavares. Aristeu Tavares left Guangzhou Songri in 1998, and Gao Hongbo succeeded as the head coach at the age of 32.

Gao Hongbo quickly ran into trouble with his players. He left the team after 11 matches and went abroad to study coaching. He studied in several clubs in London and Southampton, and his long-time teammate Yang Chen invited him to study in Germany as well.

After several months of studying, Gao Hongbo was appointed the coach of the national U-17 team. Although the team eliminated South Korea despite of Koreaphobia and qualified from group stage in the AFC U-17 Championship 2000, the 1-7 defeat to Japan essentially ended his job.

After the game, Gao Hongbo resigned from the national post and returned to help Xu Genbao in coaching Shanghai Zhongyuan. This duo again won the promotion to Jia A and left the club together in 2002.

Gao Hongbo worked as an assistant coach in the national team between 2003 and 2004. After Wu Jingui, the coach of the new champion Shanghai Shenhua, was introduced to the national team, he left the team to coach Xiamen Hongshi.

Gao Hongbo's career in Xiamen is a surprising success. Xiamen Hongshi ranked the third in 2004, and won the championship in 2005.

He lead Changchun Yatai as League Champions in 2007.