Li Haiqiang () is a former Chinese-born

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

. He played for various professional clubs and also the

Hong Kong national football team The Hong Kong national football team () represents Hong Kong in international football and is controlled by the Hong Kong Football Association, the governing body for football in Hong Kong. Hong Kong was the first in Asia to hold the AFC Asian ...

. Li played the role of a midfielder and is nicknamed "The Golden Left Foot" because of his brilliant free kick skills.

Club career

South China

2006–07 season

He signed for South China in 2006. He was appointed as the captain in the second half of the season as the team captain

Au Wai Lun Au Wai Lun (; born 14 August 1971, in Hong Kong) is a former Hong Kong professional football player. He is considered one of the best strikers in Hong Kong. Playing career Au made his debut in Hong Kong First Division League for Tin Tin on 2 ...

served as a reserve player for the majority of matches. On 21 May 2007, Li Haiqiang was awarded the

Hong Kong Footballer of the Year The Hong Kong Top Footballers Awards (), established by the Hong Kong Football Association in 1978, recognizes the top performers for each season's Hong Kong Premier League. The prizes are decided according to the votes from mass media and the g ...

after scoring 6 goals in the 2006–07 season. It was his debut season in

Hong Kong First Division League The Hong Kong First Division League () is the second-highest division in the Hong Kong football league system. Established in 1908, it is the third oldest in Asia. The league was formerly the highest division in Hong Kong until the formation ...

and he was the first Mainland player to receive this award in its 30-year history. On Tuesday 24 July 2007, he played an integral part of South China's

Barclays Asia Trophy 2007 The 2007 Premier League Asia Trophy (Traditional chinese: 巴克萊亞洲錦標賽) was the third edition of the Premier League Asia Trophy, a four-team association football tournament held every two years. The tournament was held in Hong Kong. Th ...

tournament when he scored a terrific free-kick from approximately 40-yards out against

Liverpool Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...

. The goal embarrassed Liverpool goalkeeper

Scott Carson Scott Paul Carson (born 3 September 1985) is an English professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Premier League club Manchester City. Carson joined the Leeds United academy in 2002, making his full first-team debut for Leeds aga ...

and recalled memories of

Ronaldinho Ronaldo de Assis Moreira (born 21 March 1980), commonly known as Ronaldinho Gaúcho () or simply Ronaldinho, is a Brazilian retired professional footballer who played mostly as an attacking midfielder, but was also deployed as a winger. Wide ...

's World Cup 2002 goal against

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. South China eventually lost the game by 3–1.

2007–08 season

In the 2007–08 season, Li scored 4 goals, and all of them came from free kicks. Li Haiqiang was named Hong Kong Footballer of the Year at the end of the season for the second year in a row, as well as being named a member of the Best Eleven.

2008–09 season

In the

2009 AFC Cup The 2009 AFC Cup was the sixth season of the AFC Cup and is competed among clubs from nations who are members of the Asian Football Confederation. With the Asian Football Confederation reviewed the format of the AFC Champions League and made sig ...

second-round match against

Home United FC Lion City Sailors Football Club, commonly referred to as The Sailors or LCS, is a Singaporean professional football club competing in the Singapore Premier League, the top tier of the Singapore football league system. Since the 2021 season, the ...

, Li Haiqiang scored two goals and helped South China win by 4:0 to progress to the quarter finals. On 1 August 2009, at the Panasonic Invitation Cup against

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. The team has playe ...

, in the 68th minute, the referee pointed to the spot following a fairly innocuous challenge by

Jake Livermore Jake Cyril Livermore (born 14 November 1989) is an English professional footballer who plays as a central midfielder for club West Bromwich Albion. Livermore began his career at Tottenham Hotspur, spending most of his tenure out on loan at cl ...

on Chao Pengfei and Li Haiqiang stepped up to chip the ball into the net, scoring the second goal which resulted in South China's 2–0 victory.

2009–10 season

In the

semi final second leg against

Kuwait SC Kuwait Sporting Club ( ar, نادي الكويت الرياضي) is a Kuwaiti professional football club based in Kuwait City. The football team has won Kuwaiti Premier League 17 times. Kuwait SC also has over 50 trophies in Kuwaiti Club foot ...

, Li Haiqiang received a back heel pass from

Leandro Carrijo Leandro may refer to: * Leandro (given name), a male name, including a list of people with the name * '' Ero e Leandro'', a 1707 cantata by George Frideric Handel * San Leandro, California * San Leandro Creek See also *Leandra (disambiguation) L ...

and scored in the 65th minute, but was ruled off-side, causing huge uproar from the capacity crowd in the

Hong Kong Stadium Hong Kong Stadium is the main sports venue of Hong Kong. Redeveloped from the old Government Stadium, it reopened as Hong Kong Stadium in March 1994. It has a maximum seating capacity of 40,000, including 18,260 at the main level, 3,173 at exec ...

. South China in the end lost the tie 1–3.

2010–11 season

In January 2011, Li Haiqiang received praise from South China's new signing

Mateja Kežman Mateja Kežman ( sr-Cyrl, Матеја Кежман, ; born 12 April 1979) is a Serbian former professional footballer who played as a striker. Upon playing in his homeland, Kežman went on to play top-flight football in the Netherlands, Engla ...

after their first training session together. In the

2011 AFC Cup The 2011 AFC Cup was the eighth edition of the AFC Cup, a football competition organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for clubs from "developing countries" in Asia. Allocation of entries per association *2 teams to qualify from eac ...

, Li Haiqiang scored the third goal for South China against

East Bengal FC East Bengal Club, commonly referred to as East Bengal (), is an Indian professional multi-sport club based in Kolkata, West Bengal. It is best known for its professional men's football team that competes in the Indian Super League, the top ...

in the final minutes to lead the match 3:2, but the visitors were denied victory when East Bengal FC scored a late penalty and the match ended 3:3. In the summer of 2011,

Kitchee Kitchee Sports Club (; ; ) is a Hong Kong professional football club based in Kowloon. It was founded in 1931 and currently competes in the Hong Kong Premier League. The club has won championships in Hong Kong 11 times, including 6 Hong Kong ...

received permission from South China to approach Li about a transfer, but Li decided to stay with South China.

Tuen Mun

In the summer of 2012, Li joined

Tuen Mun Tuen Mun or Castle Peak is an area near the mouth of Tuen Mun River and Castle Peak Bay in the New Territories, Hong Kong. It was one of the earliest settlements in what is now Hong Kong and can be dated to the Neolithic period. In the more ...

. On 30 October 2012, due to the divestment of Tuen Mun president Chan Keung, various key players, including Li, and the whole coaching team were released by the club.

International career

In 1999, Li was called up to the

Chinese national football team The China national football team (, recognised as China PR by FIFA) represents the People's Republic of China in international association football and is governed by the Chinese Football Association. China won the EAFF East Asian Cup in 2005 ...

's squad, but he did not play in any matches. After spending two seasons in Hong Kong, Li Haiqiang qualified to play for

. His first game was a friendly against

Macau national football team The Macau national football team (; pt, Selecção Macaense de Futebol) represents the Chinese special administrative region of Macau in international association football. The team is supervised by the Macau Football Association (; Portugu ...

in Macau. Li Haiqiang took part as captain in the

2010 East Asian Football Championship The 2010 EAFF East Asian Football Championship was the fourth edition of the tournament which was held between 6 and 14 February 2010. Two preliminary competitions were held during 2009. Participating teams Preliminary Round 1 * * * * Round 2 ...

semi final tournament, held in Kaohsiung,

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northe ...

, helping Hong Kong qualify for the final tournament for the first time since 2003, when North Korea withdrew. On 4 October 2010, Li Haiqiang scored with a left foot volley to help Hong Kong win a friendly by 1-0 against

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

. In June 2011, just before the friendly against

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

, Li Haiqiang announced that he has resigned from the

in March, due to old age.備戰世盃外圍賽鬥沙特港隊搵大馬作試金石
Hong Kong Daily News. June 2011.

Career statistics

Club

''As of 11 June 2014'' ¹ Others include 2012–13 Hong Kong Season Play-offs.

International

Honours

Club

;South China *

(4): 2006–07, 2007–08, 2008–09, 2009–10 *

Hong Kong Senior Shield The Hong Kong Senior Challenge Shield (), known commonly as the Senior Shield, is the football knockout inter-club competition held in Hong Kong and the fourth oldest football tournament in Asia. Traditionally, only the teams in the Hong Kong ...

(2): 2006–07, 2009–10

Individual

(2): 2007, 2008

References

External links

Li Haiqiang
at HKFA
Scaafc.com
球員資料 – 11. 李海強 (in Chinese)
SCAA Official Blog
11號李海強 (Li Hai Qiang) (in Chinese)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Li, Haiqiang 1977 births Living people Hakka sportspeople Hong Kong people of Hakka descent People from Meixian District Chinese footballers Hong Kong footballers Footballers from Meizhou Association football midfielders Hong Kong First Division League players Guangdong Winnerway F.C. players South China AA players Chengdu Tiancheng F.C. players China League One players Chinese expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Hong Kong Chinese expatriates in Hong Kong Eastern Sports Club footballers Hong Kong international footballers Shenzhen F.C. managers Hong Kong football managers Hong Kong League XI representative players