Pu Wei, the bright pearl of the Clanging Roses and China's top women's soccer player, paid tribute to her on March 24 on social media, "Director Chen passed away, may peace be found in heaven. Remembering Chen's dedicated teaching and companionship to the Clanging Roses generation, eternal remembrance."
Chen Chengda, a soccer legend at the age of 93, was an elegant and quiet scholar during his lifetime and one of the founders of the new Chinese soccer. He had gradually grown into a generation of international soccer players as an architectural student at St. John's University in Shanghai, and even became the head coach of the national soccer team, and later held a key position in the Football Association.
Chen Chengda, with his extraordinary foreign language ability and elegant personal charm, enjoys a great reputation in the international soccer world and has made great contributions to the foreign exchange of Chinese soccer.
Originally named Zhigang, Chen Chengda, born in Shanghai in 1929, was an outstanding player, coach and administrator in the history of Chinese soccer, joining the Shanghai United Stars and Jingwu teams in 1945 and enrolling in the Architecture Department of St. John's University in Shanghai in 1949. After the founding of New China, Chen Chengda began to serve the Shanghai United Schools team in 1950, was selected for the Shanghai City team and the East China team in 1951, was promoted to the national team in 1952, and went to Hungary with the team to study in 1954, and became an international player in the first men's national soccer team of the new China.
In 1958, Chen Chengda was honored as one of the first soccer athletes in China.
In 2015, the 60th anniversary of the Chinese football team studying in Hungary was held on Chongming Island in Shanghai, where Chen Chengda and Nian Weisi, among other soccer patriarchs, met with the Hungarian soccer team to renew the friendship between Chinese and Hungarian soccer.
Chen Chengda was the coach of the national team for seven consecutive years from 1957 to 1963, becoming the fourth head coach in the history of the national soccer team. Under his leadership, the national soccer team won the 1959 Tri-National Match between China, the Soviet Union and Hungary and the 1964 Quad-National Match between China, Korea, Vietnam and Mongolia.
In 1974, Chan Seng Tat returned to the FIFA to take up the post of General Secretary, and later served in FIFA and the AFC, where he was Vice-President. His foundation in English at St. John's University has allowed him to navigate the world of soccer diplomacy. Chen Chengda knows that China must strengthen its communication with FIFA and AFC to enhance the voice of Chinese soccer on the international stage.
On October 3, 1979, the FIFA Executive Committee voted to restore the People's Republic of China's legal seat in FIFA.
In 1980, Chan Seng Tat began his tenure at FIFA, and in 1984, he was elected as a member of the AFC Executive Committee and a member of the Match and Emergency Committees.
In 1986, Chen Chengda was elected vice president of the Asian Football Confederation, and in June 1994, Chen Chengda was awarded the fifa order of merit medal at the FIFA Congress in Chicago, USA.
After retirement, Chen Chengda still pays attention to soccer, especially to the development of youth soccer, and puts forward valuable suggestions for the establishment of a youth competition system. During the Spring Festival this year, Shanghai coach Shui Qingxia led our women's soccer team to win the Asian Cup. Looking back to the splendor of the Clanging Roses, the 1999 Women's World Cup won the world runner-up result, which could not be separated from Chen Chengda's contribution.
The "old women's soccer" talk about Chen Chengda, all respect: "No Chen guide, there is no women's soccer glory."
Former China's women's international soccer player, now Shanghai University high-level women's soccer coach Pu Wei, after learning of the news of Chen Chengda's death, deep expression of condolences: "We are in the Women's World Cup in 1999, Chen guide has been in the team to give us guidance and help, he is all sincere for the sake of the soccer in a serious effort to pay and work hard, really grateful, thank you, thankful to Chen guide to us to assist and We are really grateful, thankful and thankful for Chen's assistance and guidance to us, which has made our Chinese women's soccer team what it is today."
