Zheng Zhi

Zheng Zhi
郑智
Personal information
Full nameZheng Zhi
Date of birth20 August 1980
Place of birthShenyang, Liaoning, China
Height1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Playing positionMidfielder
Club information
Current team
Guangzhou Evergrande
Number10
Youth career
1990–2000Liaoning Youth
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps†(Gls)†
2001–2004Shenzhen Jianlibao77(14)
2005–2007Shandong Luneng45(31)
2007→ Charlton Athletic (loan)12(1)
2007–2009Charlton Athletic55(8)
2009–2010Celtic16(1)
2010–Guangzhou Evergrande109(14)
National team‡
2002–China84(15)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 1 May 2015.

† Appearances (Goals).

‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 1 May 2015
This is a Chinese name; the family name is Zheng.

Zheng Zhi (simplified Chinese: 郑智; traditional Chinese: 鄭智; pinyin: Zhèng Zhì, born 20 August 1980) is a Chinese footballer who currently plays for Guangzhou Evergrande in the Chinese Super League.

Starting his career as a defender, Zheng was moved into centre midfield by his manager at Shenzhen Jianlibao and experienced immediate success there by winning the 2004 league title with them. A move to Shandong Luneng saw a prolific goal scoring period in his career and he soon became the captain of the Chinese national team which then led to moves to Charlton Athletic and Celtic.

Club career

Early career

Zheng Zhi started his football career in 1990 playing for various Liaoning youth academies before playing for Liaoning Youth in 1998 where he started out playing as a defender.[1] Despite being the reserve team of Liaoning Whowin, the Liaoning Youth team were allowed to take part in the third tier where they found it difficult within the league system and the club were involved in legal trouble that saw all their assets frozen, including player transfer rights. This saw Zheng spend a year without playing professional football and he was transferred to top tier club Shenzhen Jianlibao, who were coached by Zhu Guanghu, his former coach during his time with the Chinese under-23 national team. While he was initially deployed as a defender at first he successfully made the transition as a playmaker and aided Shenzhen to the 2004 league title for the first time in the club's history. After the title win, Zheng would play for the Chinese national team at the 2004 AFC Asian Cup where then manager Arie Haan deployed him as a defender once again as China finished as runners-up within the tournament.

Charlton Athletic

Zheng joined Charlton Athletic on loan on 29 December 2006 until the end of the season with Charlton having an option to buy him. He was the first official signing of new manager Alan Pardew, though he had been on trial with the Addicks in November 2006 under previous manager Les Reed. Zheng made his Premier League debut against Manchester United at Old Trafford when he replaced the injured Amdy Faye. His first goal came on his first start on 18 March 2007 against Newcastle United in a 2-0 win.[2]

He returned to his parent club Shandong Luneng at the end of the 2006-07 season under the terms of his loan deal. He played once more for Shandong in 2007, in a 6-1 defeat to Beijing Guoan, before he returned to England to join Charlton in a permanent deal in August 2007. He joined for a fee of £2 million and signed a two-year contract.[3] In a March 2008 edition of British football magazine FourFourTwo, Zheng was voted the fifth best player in the Football League.[4] He scored a total of seven league goals in the 2007-08 season. However, because of the number of games he played for both Charlton and China, he was less effective in the second half of the season as a result of fatigue.[5]

In the summer of 2008, Zheng was heavily linked with a transfer to West Bromwich Albion. Although Charlton were in negotiations with the West Brom up to the end of the transfer window,[6] the transfer failed to materialise. On 8 July 2009, Zheng left Charlton after failing to agree a new contract with the London club following its relegation to third division League One.[7]

Celtic

On 1 September 2009, Zheng became the second Chinese player after Du Wei to sign for Scottish Premier League side Celtic after penning a two-year contract.[8] Manager Tony Mowbray affirmed his long held admiration for the player and expressed his delight in the signing.

[9] Zheng was unable to play in Celtic's Europa League group matches after UEFA confirmed that he was not registered in time.[10]


He made his debut on 4 October 2009 in the Old Firm derby against Rangers. He was fouled in the box to give Celtic a penalty which was scored by Aiden McGeady to make it 2-1 to Celtic. Zheng was substituted for Paddy McCourt after 70 minutes.[11] Zheng scored his first goal for the club on 8 May 2010 against Heart of Midlothian. He scored the second goal in a 2-1 victory with a quick turn and hooked shot from 18 yards out into the top corner of the goal.[12][13] On 1 July 2010, he was released by Celtic after failing to agree contract terms.[14]

Guangzhou Evergrande

On 28 June 2010, Zheng returned back home and signed for China League One side Guangzhou Evergrande on a free transfer.[15][16] He made his second tier debut against Hubei Greenery on 17 July 2010 and scored first goal for the club four days later in a 10-0 win against Nanjing Yoyo. In the 2010 season, Zheng scored five goals in eleven appearances as Guangzhou finished first place in the second division and won promotion back to the top flight at the first attempt.

After promotion to the Chinese Super League, Zheng took over as captain of the club as former captain Li Zhihai transferred to Guangdong Sunray Cave. Zheng scored five times in 25 appearances during the 2011 season as Guangzhou won the league title for the first time in the club's history, giving Zheng his third first tier league title with three different clubs. In the 2012 season, the club won the double by winning the league title and the Chinese FA Cup, and in the 2013 season, won a third consecutive league title. In November 2013, Zheng captained Guangzhou to victory in the 2013 AFC Champions League Final as they became the first Chinese club to win the AFC Champions League. On 26 November 2013, Zheng was named the Asian Footballer of the Year by the Asian Football Confederation for his impressive performances for both club and country.[17]

International career

Zheng joined the Chinese under-23 national team as the only player from the third tier Chinese Yi League. Under Bobby Houghton for the Chinese national team, he mainly played right back in many matches. After Zhu Guanghu took over as the manager, he was shifted into centre midfield and cemented his spot as the national team's first choice midfielder. Zheng captained the under-23 national team that competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics.[18] Under Gao Hongbo's management, Zheng became the captain of the senior national team.

International goals

Career statistics

Club statistics

As of 1 May 2015
Club performance League Cup League Cup Continental Others Total
Season Club League Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
China PR League FA Cup CSL Cup Asia Total
2000 Liaoning Youth China League Two
2001 Shenzhen Jianlibao Chinese Jia-A League 23330------ 263
2002 22620------ 246
2003 16330---- --193
2004 Chinese Super League 162 54 21---- 237
2005 Shandong Luneng Chinese Super League 1810424465--3221
2006 262161------3222
England League FA Cup League Cup Europe Total
2006-07 Charlton Athletic Premier League 1210000----121
China PR League FA Cup CSL Cup Asia Others1 Total
2007 Shandong Luneng Chinese Super League 10------3242
England League FA Cup League Cup Europe Total
2007-08 Charlton Athletic English Championship 4272111----459
2008-09 1310000----131
Scotland League Scottish Cup League Cup Europe Total
2009-10 Celtic Scottish Premier League 161201000--191
China PR League FA Cup CSL Cup Asia Others2 Total
2010 Guangzhou Evergrande China League One 115--------115
2011 Chinese Super League 25520------275
2012 24131--90--362
2013 24240--14140463
2014 20000--8000280
2015 5100--5010111
Total China PR 231 59 32 8 6 5 42 6 82319 80
Total United Kingdom 8310 4 1 2 1 0 0 0089 12
Career total 31469 36 9 8 6 42 6 8 2 408 92

1Other tournaments include A3 Champions Cup.
2Other tournaments include Chinese FA Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup.

International statistics

National team
YearAppsGoals
200230
200340
2004219
200531
200651
200730
200861
200940
201000
2011101
201250
2013110
201452
201540
Total8415

Honours

Club

Shenzhen Jianlibao
Shandong Luneng
Guangzhou Evergrande

Individual

References

  1. ↑ "郑智简介". sports.QQ.com. 1 February 2007. Retrieved 13 July 2012.
  2. ↑ "Charlton 2–0 Newcastle". BBC. 18 March 2007. Retrieved 4 September 2009.
  3. ↑ "Charlton snap up McLeod & Zheng". BBC Sport. 9 August 2007. Retrieved 9 August 2007.
  4. ↑ "FourFourTwo 50 Best Football League Players". FourFourTwo. 2 March 2008. Retrieved 14 August 2008.
  5. ↑ "China's soccer exports face uncertain future". Sina.com English. 6 May 2008. Retrieved 14 August 2008.
  6. ↑ "Baggies continue Zheng talks". Sky Sports. 29 August 2008. Retrieved 2 September 2008.
  7. ↑ "Midfielder Zheng leaves Charlton". BBC Sport. 8 July 2009. Retrieved 14 July 2009.
  8. ↑ "Celtic sign China captain Zheng Zhi". The Herald. 1 September 2009. Retrieved 1 September 2009.
  9. ↑ "Zheng Zhi gets green light from SFA". Celtic F.C. 4 September 2009. Retrieved 4 September 2009.
  10. ↑ Zheng to miss european campaign. Sporting Life. Retrieved 10 June 2012.
  11. ↑ "Rangers 2–1 Celtic". BBC Sport. 4 October 2009. Retrieved 5 March 2010.
  12. ↑ Grahame, Ewing (9 May 2010). "Hearts 1 Celtic 2: match report". Retrieved 2 July 2014.
  13. ↑ "Lennon has no answer for Zheng". SKY Sports. 10 May 2010. Retrieved 2 July 2014.
  14. ↑ "Celtic release midfielders Zhi and Mizuno". BBC Sport. 1 July 2010. Retrieved 24 September 2012.
  15. ↑ "郑智穿28号战袍 不当只有虚名的英超球员". ESPN Star Sports. 28 June 2010. Retrieved 28 June 2010.
  16. ↑ China seeks 'gold' from World Cup. China Daily.com. 30 June 2010. Retrieved 24 September 2012.
  17. ↑ AFC Player of the Year: Zheng Zhi. AFC. 26 November 2013. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
  18. ↑ Zheng and Dong head China soccer squad for Beijing. Reuters. 23 July 2008. Retrieved 24 September 2012.
  19. ↑ . Retrieved 23 January 2015.

External links

Sporting positions
Preceded by
Li Weifeng		 China national football team captain
2006–2008 		Succeeded by
Du Wei
Preceded by
Li Zhihai		 Guangzhou Evergrande captain
2011– 		Succeeded by
Incumbent
Preceded by
Du Wei		 China national football team captain
2011 		Succeeded by
Li Weifeng
Preceded by
Sun Xiang		 China national football team captain
2012– 		Succeeded by
Incumbent