Mai Chao spent his whole playing career with Guangzhou FC as an attacking left-back and saw the team rise through the Chinese pyramid before being called up to the Chinese national team where he would make his debut appearance against Italy in friendly on May 11, 1986 in a 2–0 defeat. He would become a regular within the team and score his debut goal against Indonesia on August 25, 1986 in a 3–0 win before being called up to the Football at the 1986 Asian Games and then the 1988 AFC Asian Cup. Unfortunately he was part of the squad that narrowly missed out of reaching the FIFA World Cup after losing the final group game to Qatar in the dying minutes during qualification. Mai, however would end his international career as the countries top goalscoring defender while also seeing Guangzhou move into full professionalism before he retired.