Deng Lejun ( zh, s=邓乐军, t=鄧樂軍, p=Dèng Lèjūn; born 18 September 1971) is a former professional footballer for several

Chinese Super League The Chinese Football Super League (), commonly known as the Chinese Super League or the CSL (), also known as the China Resources Beverage Chinese Football Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Ch ...

teams and is currently a golfer. Deng joined the Beijing football team in 1991, the same year he made the all-star team in

FIFA U-17 World Cup The FIFA U-17 World Cup, founded as the FIFA U-16 World Championship, later changed to U-17 in 1991 and to its current name in 2007, is the annual world championship of association football for male players under the age of 17 organized by ''Fé ...

. The Beijing team later became professional club

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 ...

in 1994. As a member of Beijing Guoan, Deng won the 1995 runner up in the

Chinese Jia-A League The National Football Jia A League (simplified Chinese: 全国足球甲A联赛), commonly known as Jia-A, was the highest tier of professional football in the People's Republic of China, during 1994 through 2003, operating under the auspices of th ...

and won the

Chinese FA Cup The Chinese FA Cup (, abbreviated as CFA Cup) is the national knockout cup competition in China organized by the Chinese Football Association. The current holders are Shanghai Port, having beaten Shandong Taishan in 2024 for their first title. H ...

twice. In 1998, Deng was interested in moving to

Shenzhen Pingan Shenzhen Football Club () was a Chinese professional football club based in Shenzhen, Guangdong. Shenzhen played its home matches at the Shenzhen Universiade Sports Centre and the Shenzhen Stadium. Their majority shareholder was the Kaisa Group, a ...

but was forced to transfer to

Shandong Luneng Shandong Taishan Football Club () is a Chinese professional football club based in Jinan, Shandong, that competes in . Shandong Taishan plays its home matches at the Jinan Olympic Sports Center Stadium, located within Lixia District. Their c ...

. At Shandong, Deng became the team captain and won the league championship and another FA Cup, however he lost his start position due to team politics after

Slobodan Santrač Slobodan Santrač (, ; 1 July 1946 – 13 February 2016) was a Serbian football manager and player. He is the all-time top scorer of the Yugoslav First League with a total of 218 goals, as well as the top scorer in the history of OFK Beograd. A ...

began managing the team. In 2000, Deng decide to retire from football as he could not pass the 12-minute run test set up by the Chinese FA.

Style of play

Deng is limited in physical strength but is good at anticipation and vision. He won the nickname "Little Zhuge" for his wise passing. His teammate Zhou Ning once said he would be in

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

if he can combine Deng's brain with his body.

References

1971 births Living people Footballers from Beijing Beijing Guoan F.C. players Shandong Taishan F.C. players Chinese men's footballers Men's association football midfielders {{PRChina-footy-midfielder-stub