Cheng Yuelei (; ; born 28 October 1987 in

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

) is a

Chinese Chinese may refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people identified with China, through nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **Han Chinese, East Asian ethnic group native to China. **'' Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic ...

footballer who currently plays for Shenzhen Juniors in the

China League One The Chinese Football League 1 (), also known as China League One or Chinese Jia League (), is the second level of professional football in China, under the Chinese Super League. The league is under the auspices of the Chinese Football Association ...

Club career

Cheng Yuelei began his football career at

Sichuan Guancheng Sichuan First City () is a defunct Chinese football club, which was located in Chengdu, Sichuan where they played in the Chengdu Sports Centre. They were founded in 1953 and spent a large part of their history within the top tier of Chinese footb ...

in 2001 when he joined their youth team and he would eventually progress to the senior team in 2005. He was included in several first team squads, however before he was given a chance to establish himself within the club, the team disbanded. Nevertheless, Cheng moved to the league champions

Dalian Shide Dalian Shide was a professional Chinese football club based in Dalian, Liaoning province, China who played in China's football league system between 1955 and 2012. Their home stadiums were the 55,843 capacity Dalian People's Stadium and then lat ...

the following season, yet he saw his development digress when he was excluded from their first team squad and dropped to the reserves. He then transferred to

Beijing Guoan Beijing Guoan Football Club (), known in AFC competitions as Beijing FC, is a Chinese professional football club based in Beijing, that competes in . Beijing Guoan plays its home matches at the Workers' Stadium, located within Chaoyang Distr ...

and saw himself fight for the second choice goalkeeping position with Zhang Sipeng throughout much of the 2008 season. At the beginning of the 2009 season, Cheng transferred to Shenzhen Ruby and after several games, he was chosen as their first choice goalkeeper when he made his debut against

Shaanxi Chanba Beijing Chengfeng Football Club ( zh, s=北京橙丰, t=北京橙丰, p=Běijīng Chéngfēng) was a professional Chinese football club that last participated in the Chinese League One under licence from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). T ...

on 4 April 2009 in a 2-1 win For the next two seasons, Cheng would go on to be vital member at the club where they were midtable regulars until

Philippe Troussier Philippe Omar Troussier,October's ten – Religious conversions
...

became their manager and after a series of defeats, he decided to drop Cheng for Zhang Xunwei during the 2011 season as the club was relegated from the first tier. Because Cheng was still considered a promising goalkeeper, he would join recently promoted

Guangzhou R&F Guangzhou City Football Club () was a Chinese professional football club which last competed in the Chinese Super League. The team was based in Guangzhou, Guangdong. The club's name between 2011 and 2020 was Guangzhou R&F, which was short for ' ...

on a five-year contract at the beginning of the 2012 season. Cheng was Guangzhou R&F's main keeper over the 2012-2019 seasons with the exception of 2015 when Liu Dianzuo played more games. By the end of the 2019 season, Cheng had played 200 games for Guangzhou R&F. However, he didn't play a single league minute in 2020 as U21 player Han Jiaqi became first choice goalkeeper. On 08 January 2025, Cheng joined

club Shenzhen Juniors.

International career

Cheng was called up to the Chinese national team to play against

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

on 25 March 2011 and he made his debut by coming on as an early substitute for injured goalkeeper

Zeng Cheng Zeng Cheng (; born 8 January 1987) is a Chinese footballer who currently plays for Shanghai Shenhua in the Chinese Super League. Club career Zeng Cheng started his football career at top-tier side Wuhan Guanggu; however, he was soon loane ...

in a 1-1 draw. Cheng would then go on to make his first start for the team soon afterwards by starting in a friendly against

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Fonseca, ...

on 29 March 2011 in a 3-0 victory.

Career statistics

''Statistics accurate as of match played 2 November 2024''.

References

External links

* *
Player stats at sohu.comProfile at weltfussball.at
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cheng, Yuelei 1987 births Living people Chinese men's footballers Footballers from Beijing Sichuan First City F.C. players Dalian Shide F.C. players Beijing Guoan F.C. players Shenzhen F.C. players Guangzhou City F.C. players Meizhou Hakka F.C. players Shenzhen Juniors F.C. players Chinese Super League players China League One players Men's association football goalkeepers China men's international footballers 21st-century Chinese sportsmen