Renowned Chinese football veteran Chi Shangbin passed away on Saturday morning at the age of 71.

Born in Dalian of northeast China's Liaoning Province on September 19, 1949, Chi was selected into local football team when he was 15. Having trained for six years, he was recruited by the Chinese national team in 1970.

After that, Chi attended multiple international events as a midfielder for China, including two AFC Asian Cups in 1976 and 1980, and three Asian Games in 1974, 1978 and 1982. He was appointed as the captain of the national team in 1979 and led China in the 1982 FIFA World Cup qualification tournament.

Despite the victories over the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, China failed to secure a spot in Spain in 1982.

Chi retired as a player in 1982 and went to Japan for five years later to study football coaching. In 1994, he helped Gamba Osaka win the championship of the youth league. One year later, Chi returned to China and took over Dalian Wanda in the National Football Jia A League of China, the predecessor of today's Chinese Super League.

Chi not only brought two national titles to Wanda, but also led the team on an incredible 55-undefeated-game-streak, a record that still stands today. In 1999, Chi put Xiamen on the throne of the second-division (Jia B) to be promoted to the top league.

He joined the coaching staff of Milan Milutinovic, manager of the Chinese national team between 2000 and 2002, during which China, for the first and only time, achieved the qualification of the FIFA World Cup in Japan and South Korea.

Chi coached several other teams in the domestic league in the following years before retirement, but he never stayed away from football. Last November, he attended a forum on youth football development in Xiamen.