Gao Hongbo is announced as latest coach of China’s troubled national soccer team

China’s national soccer team gets new coach

BEIJING — Gao Hongbo was announced as the latest coach of China’s troubled national soccer team on Monday.

The Chinese Football Association said the former striker will replace Yin Tiesheng, who has been handling the team on a temporary basis. In December, Yin replaced Serbia’s Vladimir Petrovic, who was dismissed after China was eliminated in World Cup qualifying.

Gao played for the national team during the 1980s.

Despite winning 51 gold medals at the Beijing Olympics last August, China and its famed sports schools have failed to produce much soccer talent. China’s national team is ranked No. 100 by FIFA, just behind Ethiopia and ahead of Tanzania.

Its national team was knocked out of 2010 World Cup qualifying last year, failing to make the top-10 sides in Asia. The only time China qualified for the World Cup was in 2002. It lost all three games and failed to score.

China declined to bid for the 2018 or 2022 World Cups, as some had expected, after staging a successful Summer Olympics last year.