Liu Yang (; born 17 June 1995) is a Chinese professional footballer who currently plays as a

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

left winger In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

for

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 ...

club

Shandong Taishan 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 cur ...

and the China national team.

Club career

In 2010, Liu joined

side

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

's youth academy (now renamed

), where he shifted his position from forward to central-back. He was sent to Portugal for further training in 2014. He joined Campeonato de Portugal side Sintrense in the summer of 2014. On 12 October 2014, he made his senior debut in a 2–1 away win against

Sacavenense Sport Grupo Sacavenense is a Portuguese football club In association football, a football club (or association football club, alternatively soccer club) is a sports club that acts as an entity through which association football teams organi ...

, coming on as a substitute for

Romário Romário de Souza Faria (born 29 January 1966), known simply as Romário (), is a Brazilian politician and former professional association football, footballer who is currently a Senator for Rio de Janeiro (state), Rio de Janeiro and the presi ...

in the 72nd minute. Liu moved to another Campeonato de Portugal club

Cova da Piedade Cova da Piedade () is a former civil parish in the municipality of Almada, Lisbon metropolitan area, Portugal. In 2013, the parish merged into the new parish Almada, Cova da Piedade, Pragal e Cacilhas. The population in 2011 was 19,904, in an ar ...

on 1 February 2015. He made his debut for Cova da Piedade on 24 May 2015 in a 3–1 away win over Sacavenense. Liu played six match for the club in the 2015–16 season as Cova da Piedade finish the first place of the league and won promotion to the second tier. Liu returned to Shandong Luneng and was promoted to the first team squad by manager

Felix Magath Wolfgang Felix Magath (; born 26 July 1953) is a German football manager and former player. The most notable spell of his playing career was with Hamburger SV, with whom he won three Bundesliga titles, the 1977 European Cup Winners' Cup Final a ...

in July 2016. He played as a left-back under Magath. On 22 October 2016, he made his debut for Shandong in a 4–1 away defeat against

Shanghai SIPG Shanghai Port Football Club (), previously Shanghai SIPG (), is a Chinese professional football club based in Shanghai, that competes in . Shanghai Port plays its home matches at the Pudong Football Stadium, located within Pudong. Their owners a ...

, coming on for Song Long in the 70th minute. In the 2018 season, Liu mainly played as a left winger under manager Li Xiaopeng. On 25 September 2018, he scored his first senior goal in a 3–0 home win against

Dalian Yifang Dalian Professional Football Club (), known as Dalian Pro, was a Chinese professional football club based in Dalian, Liaoning, which mostly competed in the Chinese Super League. Dalian Pro played its home matches at various grounds across Dalia ...

in the

2018 Chinese FA Cup Yanjing Beer 2018 Chinese FA Cup () was the 20th edition of the Chinese FA Cup. On 29 December 2017, Yanjing Beer extended their sponsorship contract for another four years (2018–2021). Schedule The schedule was as follows. Home Advantage Dec ...

semi-finals. He scored his first league goal against

Changchun Yatai 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 ...

on 2 November 2018, which ensured Shandong's 2–0 victory and sealed a seat for

2019 AFC Champions League The 2019 AFC Champions League was the 38th edition of Asia's premier club football tournament, organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), and the 17th under the current AFC Champions League title. Al-Hilal defeated Urawa Red Diamo ...

. In January 2019, Liu extended his contract with the club until the end of the 2023 season. He would repay the club with this contract by establishing himself as a vital member within the team that won the

2020 Chinese FA Cup The 2020 Chinese Football Association Cup, officially known as the Yanjing Beer 2020 Chinese FA Cup () for sponsorship reasons, was the 22nd edition of the Chinese FA Cup. It was postponed following the COVID-19 pandemic in mainland China. On 2 Sep ...

against Jiangsu Suning F.C. in a 2-0 victory. A consistent versatile regular within the team, he would gain his first league title with the club when he was part of the team that won the

2021 Chinese Super League The 2021 Chinese Super League, officially known as the 2021 Ping An Chinese Football Association Super League () for sponsorship reasons, was the 18th season since the establishment of the Chinese Super League. The league title sponsor is Ping An I ...

title. This would be followed up by him winning the

2022 Chinese FA Cup The 2022 Chinese Football Association Cup, officially known as the Yanjing Beer 2022 Chinese FA Cup () for sponsorship reasons, was the 24th edition of the Chinese FA Cup. The defending champions are Chinese Super League side Shandong Taishan. Th ...

with them the next season.

International career

Liu received his first call up for the

China national football team The China national football team ( zh, s=中国国家足球队, t=中國國家足球隊, p=Zhōngguó guójiā zúqiú duì), recognised as China PR by FIFA, represents China in men's international association football and is governed by the Ch ...

by manager

Marcello Lippi Marcello Romeo Lippi (; born 12 April 1948) is an Italian former professional association football, football player and manager, who led the Italy national football team, Italy national team to victory in the 2006 FIFA World Cup. He was appoin ...

for the training camp of

2019 AFC Asian Cup The 2019 AFC Asian Cup (or commonly called the Asian Cup 2019) was the 17th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, the quadrennial international association football, football championship of Asia organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) ...

. On 24 December 2018, he made his international senior debut in a 2–1 defeat against

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

. He was named in the final 23-man squad, and played all five matches for China in the tournament. Liu was named in China's squad for the

2023 AFC Asian Cup The 2023 AFC Asian Cup was the 18th edition of the AFC Asian Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It involved 24 national teams after its expansion in 20 ...

in Qatar and started the team's opening match against

Tajikistan Tajikistan, officially the Republic of Tajikistan, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Dushanbe is the capital city, capital and most populous city. Tajikistan borders Afghanistan to the Afghanistan–Tajikistan border, south, Uzbekistan to ...

on 13 January 2024.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Cova da Piedade * Campeonato de Portugal: 2015–16 Shandong Luneng, Shandong Taishan *

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

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 ...

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Liu, Yang 1995 births Living people Chinese men's footballers Footballers from Qingdao Shandong Taishan F.C. players S.U. Sintrense players C.D. Cova da Piedade players Oriental Dragon FC players Segunda Divisão players Chinese Super League players Men's association football defenders Chinese expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Chinese expatriate sportspeople in Portugal China men's international footballers China men's youth international footballers Footballers at the 2018 Asian Games 2019 AFC Asian Cup players 2023 AFC Asian Cup players Footballers at the 2022 Asian Games Asian Games footballers for China 21st-century Chinese sportsmen