The latest roster for the Chinese women's football team has been announced, and among the 23 national players selected, an impressive nine of them are disciples of Chen Wanting. These players have all trained and grown under her meticulous guidance.
In the field of Chinese women's football, when discussing which coach is the most famous, it is not the current head coach of the national team, Milicic, nor the former coaches Shui Qingxia and Jia Xiuquan. It is also not Gao Cang Mazi from Shanghai, who has won the Asian Best Women's Football Coach award seven times, or Chang Weiwei, the head coach of Wuhan Jiangda, the league champion. Instead, it is Chen Wanting, the coach of the mid-table team Jiangsu Women's Football.
Chen Wanting is deeply loved and supported by women's football fans in China, who affectionately call her "Niwan". Not only do they hope she will coach the Chinese women's national team, but they also continuously urge her to coach the Chinese men's national team. Fans believe that if the Chinese men's team wants to defeat the Japanese men's team, there is only one possibility: hiring Chen Wanting as the coach.
The Chinese women's team once suffered heavy defeats against the Netherlands and England, and interestingly, both teams were coached by Wiegman. This has led to even greater support for Chen Wanting among Chinese women's football fans, as they see her as the only coach capable of matching Wiegman's abilities. When talking about Wiegman, Chen Wanting confidently expressed that she believes herself to be stronger.
Fate seems to enjoy playing tricks on people, and Chen Wanting has missed out on the position of head coach of the Chinese women's team several times. However, she has not been discouraged. Instead, she has turned her attention to the Chinese Women's Super League, where she has come to realize that contributing to Chinese women's football does not only mean coaching the national team; nurturing outstanding players for the national team is also a significant contribution.
She then focused her attention on the Chinese women's professional league, first coaching the Hainan Zhong women's team, and after successfully leading them into the first division, she moved on to coach Jiangsu women's team in the Chinese Super League. She devoted herself entirely to her work with Jiangsu women's team, with a clear philosophy that clubs should not simply aim for results but should take the responsibility of nurturing excellent players for the national team as their primary task.
What's the point of winning more victories and championships in domestic leagues? Only by becoming a national player and giving their all for the national team can one achieve the highest honor. Under Chen Wanting's influence, Jiangsu women's team's performance has declined year by year. When she took over, they were ranked second, but after three seasons, they dropped to fifth place.
The number of Jiangsu women's team players selected for the national team is increasing. In the latest national team, seven players came from Jiangsu women's team. Additionally, Wang Siqian from Shanghai women's team and Sun Fangxin from Shandong women's team, these two were also disciples of Chen Wanting when she coached the national youth team. Among the total of 23 national team players, as many as nine are Chen Wanting's disciples, accounting for half of the team.
The current head coach of the Chinese women's team, Milicic, is very grateful to Chen Wanting. He stated that he is very strict in selecting players, and Chen Wanting's contributions have enriched his talent pool. He also mentioned that if he were to step down from his position as head coach in the future, he would look forward to Chen Wanting taking over this important role.