Official Announcement: Chen Tao Departs, Shenzhen Peng City to Appoint Foreign New Coach

Reporter Wang Wei reports On the morning of May 31, the Chinese Super League club Shenzhen Peng City Football Club officially issued a statement announcing that head coach Chen Tao would immediately step down from his role as first-team head coach. The club acknowledged Chen Tao's dedication and contributions during his tenure, particularly recognizing his crucial efforts in taking over the team at the end of the 2025 season under urgent circumstances and successfully leading them to avoid relegation. It is understood that the club will next recruit a new foreign head coach, with the announcement expected within a week.

The official announcement from Shenzhen Peng City Football Club recognized Chen Tao's coaching work. The statement noted that at the end of the 2025 season, Chen Tao took over the team in a critical situation and led them to complete the relegation survival mission, making outstanding contributions to the club's stability in the Chinese Super League. The club sincerely thanked Chen Tao for his hard work and steadfast commitment since taking the role, and warmly wished him well in his future coaching career.

Now 41 years old, Chen Tao is a young domestic coach in Chinese football. As a player, he was the midfield orchestrator for the Chinese national team, possessing rich professional experience. After transitioning into coaching, he focused on youth development and previously served as a firefighting coach for the former Shenzhen team. In September 2025, Chen Tao officially joined the Shenzhen Peng City coaching staff as an assistant coach for the first team.

During the final stage of the 2025 Chinese Super League season, Shenzhen Peng City's overall performance was poor, sinking into the relegation zone with a dangerously precarious survival situation—the team faced its toughest period of the season. At this critical moment, the club management decisively adjusted the coaching staff, appointing Chen Tao as the interim head coach to begin his firefighting coaching stint. At that time, only four rounds remained in the CSL season, and the team faced a "grueling schedule" featuring multiple strong opponents, making the relegation pressure immense and external expectations for survival very low.

Taking charge under urgent circumstances, Chen Tao quickly got into working mode, rapidly identifying the team's issues, adjusting tactical approaches, reshaping the team's offensive and defensive systems, and stabilizing the squad's morale through cohesion. In the crucial four relegation battles, Chen Tao led Shenzhen Peng City to a record of 2 wins, 1 draw, and 1 loss, securing a total of 7 vital points. The team successively defeated Beijing Guoan and Wuhan Three Towns, narrowly lost away to Shanghai Shenhua, and drew with the strong Chengdu Rongcheng. They successfully broke through the tough schedule.

Thanks to this impressive points-gaining momentum, Shenzhen Peng City, originally ranked second from bottom in the league and deep in the relegation quagmire, reversed the downturn, completed the relegation survival, and ultimately finished the 2025 season in 12th place in the CSL, remaining in the top flight. Through this comeback relegation battle, Chen Tao earned the club's recognition. For his firefighting relegation achievements, at the end of November 2025, Shenzhen Peng City officially announced that Chen Tao had ended his interim role and been confirmed as the formal head coach of the first team.

Entering the 2026 season, Chen Tao led the team in the CSL, continuously refining the squad lineup and tactical system. As of the night before his departure, after 15 rounds of the 2026 CSL season, Shenzhen Peng City had achieved 5 wins, 2 draws, and 8 losses, accumulating 17 points and ranking 9th on the CSL standings.

The current CSL season is quite密集, which has led to an injury crisis for Shenzhen Peng City players. Foreign players such as Ademi and Benkovic have been plagued by injuries, affecting their match form. Meanwhile, the team's defensive lineup is relatively thin, leading to significant fluctuations in results.

After the season began, Shenzhen Peng City experienced two key slumps. The first was a three-match losing streak from round 5 to round 7, where the team lost successively to Yunnan Yukun, Chongqing Tonglianglong, and Beijing Guoan. The second slump was a five-match winless run from round 9 to round 13 (2 draws, 3 losses). If certain CSL teams' point deductions were not considered, Shenzhen Peng City would have been ranked second from bottom after round 13. These two periods of poor results affected Chen Tao's position.

In the most recent three rounds, despite still being short-handed, the team showed signs of a rebound. Shenzhen Peng City first drew 1-1 at home against Dalian Yingbo, then won 2-1 away against Shanghai Shenhua, and followed up with a 3-2 home victory over Qingdao Hainiu on May 30 in round 15. However, the record of two wins and one draw in the last three rounds could not change the current situation regarding the coaching change at Shenzhen Peng City.

After leading the team to a home win over Qingdao Hainiu on the evening of May 30, Chen Tao commented on the team's first-half performance in his post-match remarks. "From my perspective, I am certainly not satisfied. We don't emphasize objective factors, but this team lacks control during matches. However, I think it is quite difficult to fundamentally change things. To be honest, our players may need a stronger heart, a winner's mindset, and higher technical and tactical abilities. Only then could our dominance on the pitch be stronger. But currently we don't see that, so we need to continuously improve through training. Of course, every player works hard, but for us, it is difficult to improve very quickly, so we need some time and space to make our players better."

After Chen Tao's departure, Shenzhen Peng City will invite a foreign coach to serve as the team's head coach. It is understood that the selection process for the new head coach is currently underway. The new coach will be a foreign candidate, and detailed information regarding the contract and coaching staff configuration will be announced by the Peng City club within a week.