| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Hao Haidong | ||
| Date of birth | (1970-05-09) 9 May 1970 (age 54) | ||
| Place of birth | Qingdao, Shandong, China | ||
| Height | 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) | ||
| Position(s) | Striker | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1980–1986 | Bayi | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1986–1996 | Bayi | 48 | (19) |
| 1997–2004 | Dalian Shide | 130 | (78) |
| 2005–2006 | Sheffield United | 0 | (0) |
| Total | 178 | (97) | |
| International career | |||
| 1992–2004 | China | 106 | (39) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 2004 | Dalian Shide (caretaker) | ||
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Hao Haidong (simplified Chinese: 郝海东; traditional Chinese: 郝海東; pinyin: Hǎo Hǎidōng; born 9 May 1970) is a Chinese former international footballer. He currently holds the record for being China's top goalscorer.
As a player he represented Bayi Football Team, Dalian Shide and Sheffield United in a career that saw him win six league titles and two Chinese FA Cup. Along with a Chinese Football Association Player of the Year award and three Chinese Jia-A League Top goalscorer awards. Since retiring he had a brief spell at management with Dalian Shide and was the General manager at Hunan Shoking before being Chairman of Tianjin Songjiang, which he left in 2012. Hao married former badminton champion Ye Zhaoying in summer 2019.
Club career
Bayi Football Team
Hao Haidong would make a name for himself by rising through the ranks with Bayi Football Team. On 31 July 1994, Hao was involved in an on-the-pitch brawl with Craig Allardyce, son of former English manager Sam Allardyce, in Bayi's league match with Guangdong Winnerway. This resulted in Hao and Allardyce receiving a half-year ban by the Chinese Football Association and thus Hao was not allowed to play for the Chinese national team in the 1994 Asian Games. While his personal performances with Bayi remained impressive, the team were not genuine title contenders anymore due to the club's struggles with professionalism and a requirement that all their players remain active People's Liberation Army members. With a significantly improved salary and a chance to win more silverware he would transfer to reigning league champions Dalian Shide at the beginning of the 1997 league season for a club record fee of 2,200,000 yuan at the time.
Dalian Shide
His move to Dalian Shide would be a huge success and he would win the league title and Chinese FA Super Cup as well as also personally winning the Golden Boot and Golden Ball award in the 1997 season. The following season, Hao would continue to add to his medal collection with another league title and more personal awards while barely losing the Asian Club Championship as well. While Hao would be applauded for his football achievements and was even starting to be known as the "Chinese Alan Shearer", he would also show a darker aspect of his game after being fined for attacking a player on 15 March 1998 and was suspended for two games. This would also be followed by a year suspension by the Asian Football Confederation for spitting at a referee during the Asian Cup Winners' Cup. Due to the suspension, Hao would miss out on much of the 1999 league season, however this wouldn't hinder him at all and his prolific goalscoring would continue to see him win several more league titles, the Chinese FA Cup and the Asian Cup Winners' Cup runners-up medal. His stature within Dalian Shide would be so high that when then manager Milorad Kosanović left the club, Hao was immediately brought in as a caretaker to manage the team during the absence of a full-time manager.
Sheffield United
In January 2005, Hao was nearing the end of his career and received the chance to play abroad as English Championship side Sheffield United were increasingly interested in gaining access to a potentially lucrative footballing market and saw Hao as a symbolic first step in achieving this. Dalian Shide would release him as a gesture of goodwill following his record of good service towards the club and Sheffield United decided to make the transfer symbolic when Hao joined them for a record low transfer fee at the time by signing for £1 in 2005. In January 2005, Hao joined Sheffield United where he suffered from injuries and worked mainly as a coach in Sheffield's academy. His only appearance came as a substitute in the 2005–06 FA Cup on 7 January 2006 in a 2–1 loss against Colchester United. With no further opportunities, Hao retired and returned to China.
International career
Hao enjoyed a stellar international career by playing at the 2002 FIFA World Cup and is the record top goalscorer with 41 goals for the Chinese national team. Although China never made progress into Asia’s final qualifying round 2006 (finished behind Kuwait), Hao led his country in a bid to reach Germany. Hao is considered to be the best striker from China in the past two decades.
Personal life
With his ex-wife Chen Yi, Hao has a son, Runze Hao (郝润泽), who is also a professional football player, and a daughter named Hao Runhan (郝润涵). Hao married former badminton champion Ye Zhaoying in summer 2019. As of present, Hao and Ye reside in Málaga, Spain.
Political views
On 4 June 2020, on the 31st anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, Hao Haidong and his wife Ye Zhaoying publicly denounced the Chinese Communist Party, including for its mishandling of professional sports, Tibet, Hong Kong, and the COVID-19 pandemic. "Football in China is a reflection of the country ... it's not the players that make it worse, it's the bureaucrats that damage the whole business by ignoring the rules", they said. They advocated the formation of a "New Federal State of China", a proposal supported by Chinese dissident Miles Kwok and American political strategist Steve Bannon.
In response, the Chinese Communist Party first issued statements harshly criticizing Hao and Ye, and then altered course to expunge all references to them from the Chinese-accessible internet—the Weibo accounts of Hao and Ye were deleted, and their online profiles on major portals in China – Sina Sports and Tencent Sport – were expunged. Six days later, in an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Hao and Ye reiterated their criticism of one-party rule in China and restated their willingness to advocate for human rights despite potential political and personal costs: "There are many people who think the same way as we do but they don't dare to speak up inside the country – and they are becoming less and less willing to speak."
It is extremely rare, if not unprecedented, for a successful Chinese sports star to unleash such a blistering public denunciation of the Communist Party and openly call for its downfall. Dissidents who publicly criticize the party or demand democratic reforms often face lengthy prison sentences. Hao has been outspoken on social and sports issues, but had not directly challenged the Communist Party prior to this occasion.
Career statistics
International goals
Honours
Bayi
- Chinese Jia-A League: 1986
- Chinese FA Cup: 1990
Dalian Shide
- Chinese Jia-A League: 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002
- Chinese FA Cup: 2001
- Chinese Super Cup: 1996, 2000, 2002
Individual
- Chinese Football Association Player of the Year: 1998
- Chinese Jia-A League Team of the Year: 2001
- Chinese Jia-A League Top goalscorer: 1997, 1998, 2001
- IFFHS Legends
See also
- List of top international men's football goalscorers by country
- List of men's footballers with 100 or more international caps
References
- "Hao Haidong Profile". Premier League. Retrieved 22 October 2021.
- "Hao Haidong – Century of International Appearances". RSSSF. 10 June 2011. Retrieved 24 July 2012.
- "Hao Haidong Biography". ESPN.
- "郝海东出手收购湖南湘军(图)". sohu.com. 18 July 2006. Archived from the original on 20 September 2012. Retrieved 30 January 2018.
- "松江宣布郝海东下课裴恩才挂帅 携泰达战略合作". sports.sohu.com. 20 November 2012. Archived from the original on 19 January 2013. Retrieved 30 January 2018.
- ^ "Chinese sports couple who denounced Communist Party may disappear from record books". South China Morning Post. 5 June 2020.
- Team, Editorial (27 November 2021). "Hao Haidong: China Greatest Striker Now Removed From History". History Of Soccer. Retrieved 13 March 2022.
- "足球报：在流浪中死去". news.sports.cn. 14 January 2004. Archived from the original on 12 September 2012. Retrieved 16 September 2014.
- "The rise and fall of Bayi's football soldiers". wildeastfootball.net. 22 August 2018. Retrieved 1 September 2019.
- "本期人物：郝海东". sports.163.com. Retrieved 24 July 2012.
- "China League 1997". RSSSF. 21 June 2003. Retrieved 24 July 2012.
- "Asian Club Competitions 1997/98". RSSSF. 6 January 2003. Retrieved 24 July 2012.
- "Profile of Hao Haidong". runsky.com. 25 February 2004. Archived from the original on 21 March 2012. Retrieved 24 July 2012.
- "Cup Winners' Cup 2000/01". RSSSF. 27 August 2001. Retrieved 24 July 2012.
- "Veteran Hao Haidong to join Blades for a quid". China Daily. 24 December 2004. Retrieved 24 July 2012.
- "Sheffield United 1-2 Colchester United, FAC3, 7 Jan 2006".
- Team, Editorial (27 November 2021). "Hao Haidong: China Greatest Striker Now Removed From History". History Of Soccer. Retrieved 4 February 2022.
- "西甲球队签约郝海东爱子5年" (in Chinese). Sina Sports. 2 January 2017. Retrieved 3 January 2017.
- "Former World No.1 shuttler Ye Zhaoying reveals she was asked to lose 2000 Olympic semi-final". India Today. 28 August 2022. Retrieved 12 May 2024.
- Yew, Lun Tian (4 June 2020). "Retired China soccer star calls for ouster of Communist Party". Reuters. Retrieved 4 June 2020.
- Shih, Gerry (5 June 2020). "Chinese soccer superstar Hao Haidong calls for ouster of Communist Party, stunning nation". The Washington Post. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
- Wong, Chun Han (10 June 2020). "Chinese Sporting Power Couple Issues Rare Rebuke of Ruling Communist Party". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
- Staff, C. N. N. (7 June 2020). "A Chinese soccer legend has called for the downfall of the Communist Party in shock videos". CNN. Retrieved 11 December 2023.
- "Hao Haidong - Century of International Appearances". RSSSF.
- ^ "Hao, Haidong". National-football-teams.com. 29 August 2019. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
- "超霸杯：完全档案". Sports.sina.com.cn. 3 March 2000. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
- "王鹏上演帽子戏法 实德4-1胜力帆顺利捧得超霸杯". Sports.sina.com.cn. 30 December 2000. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
- "大连实德队1-0战胜青岛队 第3次夺得超霸杯冠军". Sports.sina.com.cn. 6 February 2003. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
- ^ "1998年全国足球甲级队(A组)联赛". Zuqiuziliao.cn. 14 July 2011. Archived from the original on 11 December 2013. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
- ^ "2001年全国足球甲级队(A组)联赛". Zuqiuziliao.cn. 14 July 2011. Archived from the original on 28 November 2010. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
- "1997年全国足球甲级队(A组)联赛". Zuqiuziliao.cn. 14 July 2011. Archived from the original on 2 September 2012. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
- "IFFHS announce the 48 football legend players". IFFHS. 25 January 2016. Retrieved 14 September 2016.
External links
- Hao Haidong's personal website Archived 16 May 2017 at the Wayback Machine
- Hao Haidong at Soccerbase
- International stats at teamchina
- Player profile at sodasoccer.com
- Hao Haidong at National-Football-Teams.com
| China Squad | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
- 1970 births
- Living people
- Men's association football forwards
- Chinese men's footballers
- Chinese anti-communists
- Footballers from Qingdao
- China men's international footballers
- Chinese football managers
- 1992 AFC Asian Cup players
- 1996 AFC Asian Cup players
- 2002 FIFA World Cup players
- 2004 AFC Asian Cup players
- FIFA Men's Century Club
- Bayi Football Team players
- Dalian Shide F.C. players
- Chinese expatriate men's footballers
- Chinese expatriate sportspeople in the United Kingdom
- Sheffield United F.C. players
- Asian Games medalists in football
- Footballers at the 1998 Asian Games
- Asian Games bronze medalists for China
- Medalists at the 1998 Asian Games