Arie Haan
In 1995 his old club Liaoning F.C. gave him his first chance of senior management, however his first attempt of coaching was not a success and he relegated Liaoning to the second tier at the end of the season. While he obviously stepped down from the Head coaching position Li was allowed to remain as an assistant coach of the team until 2002 except for a brief return to the Head coaching job in 2000. It was as an assistant when he joined the Chinese national team in 2003 and worked under Arie Haan and Zhu Guanghu until he left under Zhu's regime.