Before Xuelin retired from Tianjin he became the player-coach in February 1959, and officially became the team manager in 1960, where he achieved considerable success early within his reign when he won the 1960
Chinese Jia-A League league title and
Chinese FA Cup in the same year. The club were constant title contenders throughout his reign despite seeing the
Cultural Revolution severely stunting the team's development. Nevertheless, despite there not being any major tournaments held within China the club held on to Zeng when they also made him a consultant within the club. This lasted until 1972 when
Beijing football club offered him the youth coach position before he would soon take over the senior side. Once again Zeng was quick to achieve success when he won the 1973 league title in his first season. He continued to make Beijing constant title contenders throughout his reign, which lasted close to ten years and despite not adding more silverware towards the club he would make sure his reign at the club would end on a high when the club won the 1982 league title before taking the
China national football team management position. With the national team the team easily qualified for the
1984 AFC Asian Cup where he led the team to a runner-up position within the tournament. After a successful campaign the Chinese public were expecting more from the national team and after a good start in
qualification for the 1986 FIFA World Cup the Chinese team were unexpected knocked out from qualification when they lost to
Hong Kong who beat them
2-1 on 19 March 1985 in a game that would see Zeng fired. ==Death==