Li Jian ( zh, c=李健; born 9 December 1977, in

Tianjin Tianjin is a direct-administered municipality in North China, northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the National Central City, nine national central cities, with a total population of 13,866,009 inhabitants at the time of the ...

) is a former

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 ...

international

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

who played for

China PR China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the second-most populous country after India, representing 17.4% of the world population. China spans the e ...

in the

2004 AFC Asian Cup The 2004 AFC Asian Cup was the 13th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international association football, football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It was held from 17 July to 7 August 2004 in China. ...

Club career

Li Jian would play for the youth squads at the

Bayi Football Team The Bayi or August First Football Team (), known fully as the People's Liberation Army Bayi Football Club (), was a football team under the sport branch of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) that played in China's football league system between 19 ...

before he was selected as being one of the most promising youth players in China, which saw him sent to Brazil for a training programme sponsored by

Jianlibao Jianlibao Group () is a soft drink producer based in Foshan, Guangdong, China which was established in 1984. In the 1990s, The Jianlibao drink was one of the best sellers in China, at par with Coca-Cola and Pepsi. However, poor management and sti ...

. This then saw him called up to the Chinese under-20 national team where he was part of the squad that took part in the

1997 FIFA World Youth Championship The 1997 FIFA World Youth Championship, known as the 1997 FIFA/Coca-Cola World Youth Championship for sponsorship purposes, was the 11th staging of the FIFA U-20 World Cup, FIFA World Youth Championship. It was held from 16 June to 5 July 1997 i ...

, which China were knocked-out in the group stages. After the tournament Li Jian finished his training in Brazil and returned to the Bayi Football Team where he graduated to their senior team, however to gain playing time he was loaned out to second tier club

Changchun Yatai F.C. Changchun Yatai Football Club () is a Chinese professional football club based in Changchun, Jilin, that competes in . Changchun Yatai plays its home matches at the Changchun Stadium, located within Nanguan District. The club's founder and main i ...

in 2000. In the 2001 league season Li Jian returned to Bayi where he would fight for the goalkeeping position with his former Chinese under-20 teammate

Li Leilei Li Leilei (; born June 30, 1977, in Beijing) is a Chinese people, Chinese former football Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper and current goalkeeping coach. Club career Li Leilei started his career with second tier club Bayi Football ...

as the club finished twelfth at the end of the season. The following season Li Leilei was selected as the first team goalkeeper as Li Jian was dropped to the bench, which saw him move to top tier club

Chongqing Lifan F.C. Chongqing Liangjiang Athletic () was a Chinese professional football club based in Chongqing. The club was founded in 1995 as Wuhan Qianwei before making their debut in the newly developed fully professional Chinese football league system where ...

where he gradually established himself as the team's first choice goalkeeper. After several seasons at the club on September 24, 2005 he was dropped from the team at half-time against Beijing Hyundai Football Club after a disappointing first half and saw Chongqing ultimately lose the game 2-0. After that result Li Jian struggled to regain his position within the team and by the following season saw the club relegated to the second tier, remained with the club to see out his contract before deciding to retire.

References

1977 births Living people Chinese men's footballers China men's international footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Bayi Football Team players Changchun Yatai F.C. players Chongqing Liangjiang Athletic F.C. players Chinese Super League players China League One players 21st-century Chinese sportsmen {{PRChina-footy-goalkeeper-stub