After Yu Genwei had just won the 1996 CFA Young Player of the Year award he would go on to be promoted to the Chinese senior team and make his debut in a friendly against
South Korea on 30 August 1997 in a 0–0 draw. His performance was considered good enough to be included in several squads to play in China's unsuccessful
1998 FIFA World Cup qualification campaign, however due to his drop in form and Tianjin's relegation at the end of 1997 league campaign he would be excluded from future squads until he picked up his form. After finding his goalscoring form and with Tianjin back playing in the top tier Yu would be given another chance to play for the China once again when the new Chinese Head coach
Bora Milutinović included him in a friendly game against
North Korea on 3 August 2001 in a 2–2 draw. On 7 2001, he scored his first international goal in a 1-0 home win against
Oman in a vital
2002 FIFA World Cup qualification game that saw China qualify for the World Cup for the first time. He was selected in the World Cup squad in the following and played 2 of China's 3 group stage games. ==Managerial career==