In 1992, he led the Chinese national football team to the semi-finals of the 1992 AFC Asian Cup, but he was dismissed after the team failed to qualify for the 1994 FIFA World Cup qualification. He would nevertheless stay within China as a technical adviser for the football federation until he returned to Germany to manage SV Waldhof Mannheim again in 1996 to help them for their promotion bid to return to the Bundesliga, however his return was disappointing and he left before the season ended. He moved away from senior management but returned to Asia to help Iran to establish the newly re-branded Iran Pro League during 2000 as well as acting as an adviser for the Mongolian Football Federation in 2006.