Lee Wai Tong
|
Lee in 1950 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | 16 October 1905 | ||
| Place of birth | Tai Hang, Hong Kong Island, British Hong Kong | ||
| Date of death | 4 July 1979 (aged 73) | ||
| Place of death | St. Teresa's Hospital, Kowloon, British Hong Kong | ||
| Height | 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) | ||
| Position(s) | Striker | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1922 | South China | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1923–1926 | South China | ||
| 1926–1930 | Loh Hwa | ||
| 1930-1932 | South China | ||
| 1932-1933 | USM Batavia | ||
| 1933-1947 | South China | ||
| International career | |||
| 1923–1941 | China | 13 | (13) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 1926–1930 | Fudan University | ||
| 1934 | China | ||
| 1948 | China | ||
| 1954–1960 | Republic of China | ||
| 1966–? | Ming Chuan College (women) | ||
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
| Lee Wai Tong | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chinese | 李惠堂 | ||||||||||||||
| Jyutping | Lei5 Wai6 Tong4 | ||||||||||||||
| Cantonese Yale | Léih Waih Tòhng | ||||||||||||||
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Lee Wai Tong (Chinese: 李惠堂; 16 October 1905 – 4 July 1979) was a Hong Kong and Chinese international association football player, head coach, and former Vice President of FIFA. He is often regarded as the greatest Chinese footballer, due to his accomplishments in winning several Far Eastern Games titles with the national team of the Republic of China as well as captaining the national football squad on a 13-year unbeaten run in competitive games from 1923 to 1936, a streak that ended at their first ever Olympic tournament (held in Berlin).
This was also followed by having an extremely successful club career as a forward with the Hong Kong club South China where he won eight league titles with them, helping establish the club as the most successful team in the territory's history at the time. After his retirement, he moved into management where he guided the national men's football team of the Republic of China (which later played as Taiwan and Chinese Taipei) to win the 1954 Asian Games. Lee, nicknamed the "King of Asian football", was said to have scored at least 1,260 goals during his 25-year playing career, although some would claim that this figure may have been closer to 2,000.