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Sun Jihai

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In this Chinese name, the family name is Sun.

Sun Jihai
孙继海
Sun with Manchester City in 2007
Personal information
Full name Sun Jihai [孙继海]
Date of birth (1977-09-30) 30 September 1977 (age 47)
Place of birth Zhuanghe, Dalian, Liaoning, China
Height 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Position(s) Defender
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1995–2002 Dalian Shide 123 (7)
1998–1999 → Crystal Palace (loan) 23 (0)
2002–2008 Manchester City 130 (3)
2008–2009 Sheffield United 12 (0)
2009 → Chengdu Blades (loan) 10 (0)
2010–2014 Guizhou Renhe 118 (1)
2015 Chongqing Lifan 28 (0)
2016 Beijing Renhe 9 (0)
Total 453 (11)
International career
1996–2008 China 80 (1)
Medal record
Representing  China
AFC Asian Cup
Runner-up 2004 China
*Club domestic league appearances and goals
Sun Jihai
Simplified Chinese孙继海
Traditional Chinese孫繼海
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinSūn Jìhǎi
IPA[swə́n tɕî xàɪ]

Sun Jihai (Chinese: 孙继海; pinyin: Sūn Jìhǎi; Mandarin pronunciation: [swə́n tɕî xàɪ]; born 30 September 1977) is a Chinese former professional footballer who played in the English Premier League. Sun is one of the most well-known footballers in East Asia, as he is the first East Asian footballer to score in the Premier League when he scored a goal for Manchester City in 2002,[1] and also the first Chinese footballer to score in the UEFA Cup. Sun was a member of the China national team that qualified for the 2002 FIFA World Cup, the country's only appearance at the World Cup finals.

Sun founded Beijing Haiqiu Technology Company (HQ Sports) in February 2016, while he still played for Beijing Renhe in the China League One division. Subsequently, in December of the same year, Sun ended his 22 years of professional football career by announcing his official retirement in a public event. Also at the same occasion, Sun announced the successful first round funding of his company, led by China Media Capital (CMC), Tencent and Yuan Xun Fund. HQ Sports has now developed to a staff force of more than 100 and with focus on Sports Technology, Media and Datatainment business in China and Worldwide.[2]

Club career

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Dalian Shide

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Sun Jihai started his football career with Dalian Shide in 1995 and made his first appearance on 28 May 1995 against Sichuan Quanxing. Like many of the top young Chinese players of his generation, he wanted to go to the Chinese youth training camp in Brazil that was sponsored by Jianlibao. However, he was not selected as he was not deemed to possess enough potential. Sun showed great character by not letting this huge disappointment derail him and worked very hard to establish himself at his club. Sun enjoyed a successful spell with Dalian as the club won four league titles and one Chinese FA Cup title during his time there.

Crystal Palace

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After three successful years at Dalian Shide, Sun along with Fan Zhiyi signed for Crystal Palace in August 1998. They became the first ever Chinese footballers to play in the English leagues. Sun made his debut for Crystal Palace in a 3–0 loss against Bury in the first leg of a 1998–99 Football League Cup match. He was recalled by Dalian who struggled heavily at the bottom of the league in the 1999 season.

Manchester City

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In February 2002, Sun signed for English side Manchester City from Dalian Shide for £2 million and became the first Asian player to sign for the club. He made his debut for the club in a 4–2 win against Coventry City. His solid defence and dangerous attacking forays won over many City fans. He was voted the best player for the club in September 2002. In October 2002, Sun became the first East Asian footballer to score in the Premier League when he headed home the first goal in a 2–0 win over Birmingham City.[1]

At the beginning of the 2004–05 season, Sun damaged his cruciate ligaments in a tackle with Chelsea striker Eiður Guðjohnsen and missed the rest of the season. After recuperating and following a strict physical regimen devised by his father, Sun re-installed his place as a regular in the club's starting lineup. In the 2006–07 season, Sun was set back yet again by another injury and he made his return on 10 February 2007, against Portsmouth which his side lost 2–1. With the arrival of Sven-Göran Eriksson as the new manager, Sun rarely played in the 2007–08 season. Sun played 14 games and only started 7 times in that season.[3] He was replaced by Vedran Ćorluka at right back and Michael Ball played as the defensive substitute instead of Sun.

Sheffield United

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On 2 July 2008, Sun signed a two-year deal with English Championship club Sheffield United.[4] Sun only managed nineteen minutes in his first match for Sheffield United, getting sent off after picking up two yellows in a friendly.[5] He went on to make his full debut in the opening fixture of the 2008–09 season against Birmingham City.[6] He was sent off during a game against Coventry City after a lunging tackle from behind on opposing player Michael Mifsud. The Football Association charged him for his behavior after receiving a red card even with his past good disciplinary record and handed him an additional one-match ban. Having played regularly until November he succumbed to an injury and subsequently failed to force his way back into the first team and made only a handful of appearances in the FA Cup in the second half of the season. Sun was then released from his contract in July 2009 with Sheffield United claiming he had "failed to settle" in Yorkshire.[7]

Return to China

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In July 2009, Sun was loaned to Sheffield United's satellite team Chengdu Blades in the Chinese Super League, hoping to make an impact. He steadily established himself at Chengdu and helped them to achieve the club's best ever league position at seventh place. However, the club was relegated to China League One in the fallout of a match fixing scandal. He returned to Sheffield United after the loan was finished, but his contract ended and was left without a club to play for.

On 8 January 2010, Sun signed a two-year contract with fellow top tier side Shaanxi Chanba.[8] He was promoted as the team captain immediately and he extended his contract for another two years in December 2011.[9] At the beginning of the 2012 season, Sun followed the club when it decided to move to Guizhou and rename themselves Guizhou Renhe.[10] He played nineteen league matches and five Chinese FA Cup matches in the 2012 season as the club achieved fourth place that league season and were runners-up in the cup which gained them entry into AFC Champions League for the first time in the club's history.

On 4 February 2015, Sun moved to fellow top tier side Chongqing Lifan on a free transfer.[11] He made his debut for the club on 8 March 2014 in a 3–0 loss against Beijing Guoan.

On 8 December 2015, Sun returned to second tier side Beijing Renhe on a free transfer.[12]

On 10 December 2016, Sun announced his retirement from football.[13]

International career

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Sun made his international debut for the China national team on 6 December 1996 against Uzbekistan. At the 2002 FIFA World Cup in a group stage match against Costa Rica, Sun picked up an ankle injury after a tackle from behind by Mauricio Solís after just 17 minutes. Unable to play, Sun was replaced after 25 minutes and sat out the rest of the group stage, while Solís was only shown a yellow card. On 7 June 2008, during a 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification match against Qatar, Sun was shown a straight red card for dissent while he was warming up as a substitute on the bench. China lost the match 1–0. He was given a ban of five matches by FIFA and did not receive any call-ups to the national team after this incident.

Career statistics

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Club

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Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National cup[a] League cup[b] Continental Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Dalian Shide 1995 Chinese Jia-A League 13 0 – – 13 0
1996 21 0 – – 21 0
1997 19 0 – 19 0
1998 18 1 – 18 1
1999 8 1 – – 8 1
2000 21 2 1 0 – 2 0 24 2
2001 23 3 4 0 – 1 0 28 3
Total 123 7
Crystal Palace (loan) 1998–99 First Division 23 0 1 0 1 0 – 25 0
Manchester City 2001–02 First Division 7 0 0 0 0 0 – 7 0
2002–03 Premier League 28 2 1 0 2 0 – 31 2
2003–04 33 1 3 0 1 0 5 1 42 2
2004–05 6 0 0 0 1 0 – 7 0
2005–06 29 0 4 0 1 0 – 34 0
2006–07 13 0 1 0 0 0 – 14 0
2007–08 14 0 0 0 2 0 – 16 0
Total 123 3 9 0 7 0 5 1 144 4
Sheffield United 2008–09 English Championship 12 0 4 0 1 0 – 17 0
Chengdu Blades 2009 Chinese Super League 10 0 – – – 10 0
Guizhou Renhe 2010 Chinese Super League 27 0 – – – 27 0
2011 20 0 3 0 – – 23 0
2012 19 0 5 0 – – 24 0
2013 28 1 5 0 – 6 1 39 2
2014 24 0 2 0 – 5 0 31 0
Total 118 1 15 0 0 0 11 1 144 2
Chongqing Lifan 2015 Chinese Super League 28 0 0 0 – – 28 0
Beijing Renhe 2016 China League One 9 0 0 0 – – 9 0
Career total 453 11 34 0 9 0 19 2 515 13
  1. ^ Includes Chinese FA Cup, FA Cup.
  2. ^ Includes CSL Cup, Football League Cup.

International

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Appearances and goals by national team and year
National team Year Apps Goals
China 1996 5 0
1997 22 0
1998 12 0
2000 2 0
2001 11 0
2002 4 0
2003 3 0
2004 11 1
2005 2 0
2007 5 0
2008 3 0
Total 80 1
Score and result list China's goal tally first, score column indicates score after Sun goal.
International goal scored by Sun Jihai
No. Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1 9 June 2004 Worker's Stadium, Beijing, China  Malaysia 2–0 4–0 2006 FIFA World Cup qualifier

Honours

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Dalian Shide[14]

Manchester City

Guizhou Renhe

Individual

References

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  1. ^ a b "Man City back to winning ways". BBC. 26 October 2002. Retrieved 11 September 2009.
  2. ^ Flintham, Jack (1 October 2022). "Former Man City star Sun Jihai now worth £20m away from football". Manchester Evening News.
  3. ^ "Sun Jihai Profile, News & Stats | Premier League". www.premierleague.com. Retrieved 5 November 2020.
  4. ^ "Boss makes double swoop". Sheffield United F.C. 2 July 2008. Archived from the original on 20 September 2008. Retrieved 2 July 2008.
  5. ^ "KVK Tienen 1–3 Sheffield United – report". Sheffield United F.C. 17 July 2008. Archived from the original on 13 January 2009. Retrieved 10 August 2008.
  6. ^ "Birmingham City 1 Sheffield United 0". The Sheffield Star. 9 August 2008. Retrieved 10 August 2008.
  7. ^ "Sun Jihai leaves Sheffield United". bbc.co.uk. 6 July 2009. Retrieved 6 July 2009.
  8. ^ "孙继海证实签约陕西两年 坦言将与朱广沪配合默契". Sina. 8 January 2010. Retrieved 22 September 2013.
  9. ^ "孙继海与浐灞续约留队效力 赵旭日确认转会下家不明". Sina. 7 December 2011. Retrieved 22 September 2013.
  10. ^ "Only in the CSL: Shaanxi Chanba Moving to Guizhou in 2012". wildeastfootball.net. 6 December 2011. Retrieved 21 September 2012.
  11. ^ 力帆官方宣布今冬内援首签 老将孙继海正式加盟 at sports.sohu.com 4 February 2015 Retrieved 13 February 2015
  12. ^ 贵州官方宣布孙继海重返球队 盼其继续书写传奇 at sports.sina.com 8 December 2015. Retrieved 8 December 2015
  13. ^ Atkins, Chris (11 December 2016). "Retiring Sun Jihai a trailblazer for Chinese and Asian football". ESPN. Retrieved 11 December 2016.
  14. ^ "Sun, Jihai". National-football-teams.com. 29 August 2019. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
  15. ^ "足协杯-人和总分3-2恒大队史首夺冠 恒大三冠梦碎". Sports.sina.com.cn. 7 December 2013. Retrieved 19 August 2019.
  16. ^ "IFFHS announce the 48 football legend players". IFFHS. 25 January 2016. Retrieved 14 September 2016.
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