Nearing the end of his football career he would play for second-tier team Shanghai COSCO Huili and help them win the division title and promotion to the top tier in the 2001 league season.
[2] Cheng Yaodong's greatest international achievement came when he would be called into the Chinese squad to play in the 1992 AFC Asian Cup, which saw China come third in the tournament.
Though he was squad player throughout his international career he did play in the tournament against Japan on November 6, 1992, in a 3–2 defeat.
This was halted for a short time when he guided the club to fifth in the 2008 league season, however on 28 August 2009, he surprisingly resigned after a 1–0 away win against the past Shanghai derby rivals Shanghai Shenhua, citing health problem and desire of studying abroad as reasons.
[5] While many among the public and media believed that due to his ties towards Shenhua, Cheng was seeking the possibility of replacing their coach Jia Xiuquan, however Shenhua decided to go with the experienced manager Miroslav Blažević and Cheng would return to Shanghai with third-tier club Shanghai Zobon at the beginning of the 2011 league season.