Yang Zuwu, who served the Beijing team throughout his entire football career, retires as Guoan's vice-director on Saturday, March 31, 2007. Yang ignited disputes in 2004 after he and his players refused to continue to play in a Super League match for alleged unfair judging on the pitch. [File Photo: sina.com]

Former Beijing Guoan football club manager Yang Zuwu retired as the club's vice-director on Saturday, his 60th birthday.

Yang, who worked for the team throughout his entire career, became well known in China after he ordered his players to refuse to continue play during a top-division match between Beijing and Shenyang in 2004. He alleged unfair judging on the pitch as the reason behind his decision.

The walk-off caused ensuing chaos in Chinese football and triggered nationwide condemnation against matchmaking, gambling and other dirty tricks in the sport.

China's football watchdog later banned Yang from matches for the rest of the year and punished Guoan with a three-point reduction in the standings plus a 300,000-yuan (US$37,500) fine.

He said the only thing he regretted was that his team never claimed the title in China's professional football league.

Yang will engage in youth football training after his retirement.

Yang, once the captain of the Beijing team in the 1970s, was appointed vice-general manager of Guoan in the early 1990s when China kicked off its professional football league.

He was promoted to general manager in 2000, but was demoted by the end of 2001 for the team's poor performance in the league.

Yang returned to help Guoan bail out of its embarrassment in 2003 when they for the first time fell down to second from bottom in China's football top division.

In 2005, Yang Zuwu left the team again to be in charge of the management of the club.