Tao Wei (footballer, born 1966)

Not to be confused with Tao Wei (footballer, born 1978).

Tao Wei
陶伟

Personal information
Full name	Tao Wei
Date of birth	(1966-01-11)January 11, 1966
Place of birth	Beijing, China
Date of death	August 27, 2012(2012-08-27) (aged 46)
Place of death	Jinan, Shandong, China
Height	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Position(s)	Midfielder
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
0000–1992	Beijing Guoan
1992–1994	AS Dragon
1994–1996	Sichuan Quanxing	3	(0)
International career
	China U20
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

In this Chinese name, the family name is Tao.

Tao Wei (simplified Chinese: 陶伟; traditional Chinese: 陶偉; pinyin: Táo Wěi; January 11, 1966 – August 27, 2012) was a Chinese professional footballer, who played as a midfielder, and commentator for CCTV sports channel.

Career

Tao began playing professionally for home team Beijing Football Team and China national under-20 football team at 1980s. He transferred to Tahiti Division Fédérale club AS Dragon at 1992. Tao joined Sichuan Quanxing in 1994, when the first season of Chinese professional football league Chinese Jia-A League began.

Tao retired from his playing career in 1996. In 1999, he launched a youth football club called Huijia Cheetah (汇佳猎豹). He went on to become active as a commentator, providing analysis to CCTV sports channel for Fußball-Bundesliga.

Personal life

Tao married the Chinese actress Lü Liping in Los Angeles, on January 16, 1999. They divorced on August 2, 2001. He remarried in August 2011 and his son was born in March 2012, five months before his death.

Death

Tao was found dead at a hotel in Jinan, Shandong province on August 27, 2012. After investigation, local police concluded that there was no evidence of homicide or suicide, the cause of death was sudden cardiac death.

External links

• Gong Lei and Tao Wei, Chinese players who played in Tahiti League (in Chinese)
• Tao Wei's Blog (in Chinese)