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Zhang Yuning (footballer, born 1977)

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Not to be confused with Zhang Yuning (footballer, born 1997).
Zhang Yuning
张玉宁
Personal information
Full name Zhang Yuning
Date of birth (1977-05-25) May 25, 1977 (age 47)
Place of birth Shenyang, Liaoning, China
Height 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)
Position(s) Striker
Youth career
1985–1993 Liaoning
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1994–2002 Liaoning 73 (34)
1995 → Beijing Shougang (loan) ? (?)
2003–2006 Shanghai Shenhua 53 (21)
2006–2007 → Queensland Roar (loan) 6 (0)
2008 Liaoning 0 (0)
2016 Shenyang West Winner ? (?)
Total 132 (55)
International career‡
2001–2005 China 24 (8)
Managerial career
2009 Wenzhou Tomorrow (Assistant)
2011 Shenyang Dongjin (Assistant)
2014 Fujian Broncos
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 5 May 2010
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 5 May 2010
In this Chinese name, the family name is Zhang.

Zhang Yuning (simplified Chinese: 张玉宁; traditional Chinese: 張玉寧; pinyin: Zhāng Yùníng) (born May 25, 1977 in Shenyang) is a former Chinese international footballer. After retiring from football he took up coaching to become the reserve team coach for Wenzhou Tomorrow until he left at the beginning of the 2010 league season.

Playing career

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Zhang started his football career with his local football team Liaoning F.C. where he progressed to their senior team in 1994 league campaign at the dawn of full professionalism within the Chinese game.[1] He was initially loaned out to third-tier club Beijing Shougang before he went on to make his debut for Liaoning where he soon made a name for himself when he was the club's top goalscorer in the 1997 campaign.[2] By the following season he would show himself to be a prolific striker who helped guide Liaoning to promotion to the top tier.[3] Once in the top division Zhang quickly adapted to the higher demands and narrowly saw Liaoning miss out on winning the league title.[4]

As a young, tall and strong prolific centre forward, Zhang quickly caught the imagination of the Chinese tabloid press who often referred to him as the David Beckham of China, however at the height of his popularity on April 26, 2000 he was involved in a serious car accident. It was discovered that Zhang was drink driving while driving some teammates and friends home, however while Zhang sustained minor injuries his teammate Qu Leheng sustained serious injuries, which resulted in Qu being left a paraplegic and consigned to a wheelchair for life. Qu would go on to successfully sue Zhang 2.34 million yuan (282,000 US dollars) for compensation on November 22, 2004. Zhang would also go on to make a public apology to Qu and despite publicly believing that the compensation was especially high he decided to abnegate his right to ask for a retrial.[5]

While his trail to Qu went on Zhang was able to return to his football career and made his international debut against Egypt in a friendly on January 17, 2001 that ended in a 0–0 draw.[6] English club Leicester City were interested in signing Zhang on loan in November 2001 however, the Home Office was doubtful that he had not played regularly for the national team, rejecting his application for a work permit.[7] Leicester did rekindle their interest in him in November 2004, after being recommended by Bobby Houghton, though he again failed in his work permit.[8] Instead Zhang signed on for Shanghai Shenhua for a reported ten million yuan in the 2003 league season where he went on to win the league title in his debut campaign with them.[9] Unfortunately in 2013 the Chinese Football Association would revoke the league title after it was discovered the Shenhua General manager Lou Shifang had bribed officials to be bias to Shenhua in games that season.[10][11]

Unable to replicate his performances from his youth Shenhua decided to loan Zhang to Australian side Queensland Roar where he played under Frank Farina. His time at the club was not a success and he only made six appearances, which was not helped by his pack-a-day smoking habit.[12] Shenhua would eventually decide to sell Zhang back to his hometown club of Liaoning for 600,000 yuan in 2008, however he would not play for them and decided to retire at the end of the season.[13]

Career statistics

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Club

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Last update: 23 Nov 2015

Season Team Country Division Apps Goals
1994 Liaoning  China 1 ? ?
1995 Beijing Shougang  China 2 ? ?
1996 Liaoning  China 2 ? ?
1997 Liaoning  China 2 ? 11
1998 Liaoning  China 2 ? 14
1999 Liaoning  China 1 23 8
2000 Liaoning  China 1 17 11
2001 Liaoning  China 1 19 11
2002 Liaoning  China 1 13 5
2003 Shanghai Shenhua  China 1 22 13
2004 Shanghai Shenhua  China 1 10 3
2005 Shanghai Shenhua  China 1 14 5
2006 Shanghai Shenhua  China 1 8 1
06/07 Queensland Roar FC  Australia 1 6 0
2008 Liaoning  China 1 0 0

International goals

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# Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1 February 12, 2001 National Stadium, Bangkok, Thailand  Sweden 1–0 2–2 2001 King's Cup
2 February 12, 2001 National Stadium, Bangkok, Thailand  Sweden 2–0 2–2 2001 King's Cup
3 February 14, 2001 National Stadium, Bangkok, Thailand  Thailand 1–0 5–1 2001 King's Cup
4 February 14, 2001 National Stadium, Bangkok, Thailand  Thailand 2–0 5–1 2001 King's Cup
5 February 14, 2001 National Stadium, Bangkok, Thailand  Thailand 4–0 5–1 2001 King's Cup
6 August 5, 2001 Shanghai Stadium, Shanghai, China  Trinidad and Tobago 3–0 3–0 2001 Four Nations Tournament
7 February 3, 2004 Tianhe Stadium, Guangzhou, China  Finland 1–0 2–1 Friendly
8 February 7, 2004 Shenzhen Stadium, Shenzhen, China  Finland 1–0 2–1 Friendly

Honours

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Player

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Club

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Liaoning F.C.

Shanghai Shenhua

Individual

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  • Chinese Jia-B League Top Goalscorer: 1998

References

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  1. ^ "1994：中国足球拉开竞技体育职业化大幕". news.qq.com. 2009-01-17. Retrieved 2014-05-20.
  2. ^ "张玉宁". sports.sina.com.cn. Retrieved 2014-05-20.
  3. ^ "China League 1998". RSSSF. 16 Jul 2003. Archived from the original on September 29, 2012. Retrieved 2014-05-20.
  4. ^ "China 1999". RSSSF. 2 Jul 2001. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved 2014-05-20.
  5. ^ "Chinese striker pays 282,000 dollars to disabled teammate". english.peopledaily.com.cn. November 23, 2004. Retrieved 2014-05-20.
  6. ^ "China PR 0–0 Egypt". teamchina.freehostia.com. 2001-01-17. Retrieved 2014-05-20.
  7. ^ "Leicester's China move". BBC Sport. 2001-11-08. Retrieved 2008-12-13.
  8. ^ "City Waiting On Yuning". LCFC.com. 2004-11-17. Retrieved 2008-12-13.
  9. ^ "申花千万元正式签下张玉宁 酷哥成自由转会第一人". sports.sina.com.cn. 2003-01-11. Retrieved 2008-12-13.
  10. ^ "Details of soccer referee investigation released to public". chinadaily.com.cn. 2011-03-31. Retrieved 2014-05-20.
  11. ^ "China Strips Shenhua of 2003 League Title, Bans 33 People for Life". english.cri.cn. 18 February 2013. Archived from the original on April 10, 2013. Retrieved 2014-05-20.
  12. ^ "China's 'Beckham' latest Roar casualty". espnfc.com. January 28, 2007. Retrieved 2014-05-20.
  13. ^ "张玉宁周末可能会登场 玉面杀手时隔两年重返中超". sports.sina.com.cn. 2008-07-11. Retrieved 2012-09-24.
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