Zheng returned to football in 1995 when he gained the position of deputy general manager for the
Ministry of Public Security of the People's Republic of China financially backed club
Qianwei Huandao. In 1998, the club moved to
Chongqing and Zheng left them to pursue his dream of becoming a coach when he joined
Shanghai Pudong as an assistant coach in 1999. After spending a short time with Shanghai Pudong, he returned to his hometown of Wuhan where he started as an assistant before moving into youth coaching. After gaining a reputation as a rising coach, he joined the China national youth team setup before he went into his first senior coaching position with third-tier club
Hubei CTGU Kangtian, whom he guided to a playoff promotion spot at the end of the
2009 China League Two season. Unable to gain promotion with the club, he would soon return into assistant coaching with
Hangzhou Greentown until on 14 June 2012 second-tier football club
Wuhan Zall needed a caretaker manager for the rest of the
2012 China League One season. His appointment would quickly see the club win promotion at the end of the season and he was offered a permanent contract to guide the club in the
2013 Chinese Super League season; however, his time in the top tier was not a success and after the club went on a six-game winless streak, Zheng resigned. In April 2014, he was appointed as the caretaker coach of
China national under-20 football team for the
2014 AFC U-19 Championship after
Li Bing resigned. In October 2014, China was defeated by Qatar in the quarterfinals and failed to qualify for the
2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup. The managerial competition of the China U-20 team in December 2014 he entered would go to
Li Ming. On 15 July 2015, he returned to Wuhan Zall after
Zheng Bin resigned from the club. ==References==