Dong Fangzhuo

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Personal information
Dong Fangzhuo
Date of birth	January 23, 1985
Place of birth	Dalian, China
Nickname	Chinese Wayne Rooney
Position	Forward
Club information
Current club	Royal Antwerp
Number	9
Professional clubs*
Years	Club	Apps (goals)
2001 2002 2003 2003- 2003-	Dalian Wanda Dalian Saidelong Dalian Shide Manchester United → Royal Antwerp (loan)	0 (0) ? (?) 8 (0) 0 (0) 60 (34)
National team**
2005-present	China	7 (1)
* Professional club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 10 December 2006. ** National team caps and goals correct as of 7 September 2006.

This is a Chinese name; the family name is Dong

Dong Fangzhuo (董方卓) (born January 23, 1985 in Dalian, China) is a Chinese football player who currently plays for Royal Antwerp on loan from Manchester United. Fangzhuo is currently the oldest player in the Manchester United Reserve squad not named as a first team player, although this could be due to work-permit issues.

1 Professional Career
2 National Team
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] Professional Career

He signed for Manchester United from Dalian Shide FC in 2004, for £3,500,000 and thus becoming the first Chinese player to sign with Manchester United. The transfer fee is also a record for Chinese football players.

He is a striker who has yet to make his competitive senior debut for the Manchester club because of work permit issues. Dong needs to play regularly for the Chinese national team if he is to obtain a work permit to play in England.

Due to the work permit issue, Dong was immediately loaned out to Royal Antwerp after the transfer so he can get enough first team experience. In the 2005/2006 season for Royal Antwerp, Dong was the top scorer for both team and league with 17 goals.

On United's 2005 Asia tour, Dong made his first team debut in a friendly against a Hong Kong XI and capped it off with a goal in a 2-0 victory.

On United's 2006 South Africa tour, Dong scored the winner for United in a 1-0 win over Kaizer Chiefs. Sir Alex Ferguson said Dong had the "speed and physique" to play for United and he hoped he would qualify for a work permit in January 2007. Some speculations are that he will start training with Manchester by then, though this has not been mentioned at all on the United website.

[edit] National Team

Dong was on the Chinese youth team that participated in the 2005 FIFA World Youth Championship. He came off the bench to play in 3 out of the 4 matches China played.

Dong recently scored for the Chinese national team in a 4-1 loss to Switzerland in a friendly pre-2006 World Cup warm-up match.

Dong has also been named in the China squad for the upcoming Asian Cup qualifiers.

[edit] See also

China national football team

[edit] External links

Dong close to Man Utd clearance (BBC Sport - 19 July 2006)
Dong joins Antwerp (BBC Sport - 4 February 2004)

R. Antwerp F.C. - Current Squad
GK Tanghe \| GK Ristovic \| GK Izgi \| DF Biga \| DF Evans \| DF Hilton \| DF Simpson \| DF Lavan \| DF Verjans \| DF Verbiest \| DF Tomsin \| DF Cisse \| DF De Laet \| MF Di Gregorio \| MF Baert \| MF Van Mieghem \| MF Jansen \| MF Mamam \| MF Köse \| MF Gibson \| MF Neagoe \| MF Farssi \| FW Lukanovic \| FW Verveckken \| FW Dong \| FW Olguin \| FW Campbell \| Manager: Joyce