Early Chinese Players in English Football
History of Chinese Footballers Playing in the English Leagues
Aug 27, 2009
The presence of Chinese footballers in England started in 1960.
Cheung Chi Doy at Blackpool
Cheung Chi Doy was born in the British colony of Hong Kong in 1941, and started his professional career playing for the Hong Kong side Tung Wah.
In 1960 Cheung went for a trial at Blackpool, at that time a First Division side in England. Later he signed a professional contract there, becoming the first ever Chinese player to play in the English top flight. Originally a striker, Cheung was to be used in several different positions during his time at Blackpool.
With the Blackpool squad featuring the likes of Stanley Matthews and Alan Ball, Cheung Chi Doy found his chances limited and spent the bulk of his time playing for the reserves.
He made his senior debut for Blackpool in the 1960-61 season against Wolves, but the match had to be abandoned after only 9 minutes due to adverse weather conditions. He then made his full debut in January 1961 when Blackpool lost 3-1 at home to Bolton.
Cheung's third and final senior appearance for Blackpool came in the 1961-62 season when he started up front in Blackpool's home fixture against Sheffield Wednesday in November 1961. Blackpool lost the game 3-1 with Cheung scoring their goal.
Having concluded that his venture in England was a failure, Cheung Chi Doy went back to Hong Kong in December 1961.
Although he failed to make an impact for the Blackpool first team, Cheung proved a prolific goal-scorer at reserves level, bagging 14 goals in 26 games in his first season and 9 in 17 games in his second.
Towards the end of his career Cheung actually played for the Canadian side Vancouver Royals in the 1968 North American Soccer League season, scoring 2 goals in 11 appearances.
Fan Zhiyi at Crystal Palace
Fast Forward almost 40 years and in 1998 China captain and central defender Fan Zhiyi, capped 109 times by China, joined Premier League side Crystal Palace from Shanghai Shenhua.
The centre-half was a popular figure during the three seasons he spent at Selhurst Park and briefly captained the side, scoring 4 goals in 88 senior appearances before moving to Scottish Premier League side Dundee in 2002.
Fan later returned to England and made 6 appearances for Cardiff City in the Second Division. The aging defender, by then 33 years old, moved back to China in 2003 to take up various playing and coaching roles before finally retiring in 2006.
Sun Jihai at Manchester City
Sun Jihai moved to Crystal Palace in 1998 in the same deal that brough Fan Zhiyi to the London club. Sun made 25 appearances for Palace in his debut season, but failure to adapt to the pace and physical nature of the English Premier League led to his transfer back to China when he joined Dalian Shide in 1999.
In 2002 Manchester City signed the full-back from Dalian for £2m, bringing Sun back to the Premier League. His spell at Manchester City proved much more successful - his 6 seasons at City was the longest any Chinese player had spent consecutively at an English club.
Sun established himself as a versatile defender at City. Primarily deployed as a right-back, during his 130 appearance for City he also played at left-back and centre-half, and occasionally on the right wing. He scored 3 goals during his City career and was the first Chinese player to score in the Premier League.
With limited first team opportunities under Sven-Goran Eriksson, Sun Jihai moved to Sheffield United in the Championship in 2008. He turned out a disappointment for the Blades, making only 12 appearances before Sheffield United released him in 2009, citing a failure to settle in Yorkshire.
Sun Jihai currently plays for the Chinese top division side Chengdu Blades.
