Shinichi Chan (; ''Chan Shin'ichi''; born 5 September 2002) is a 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 lea ...

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 ...

or a

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

Shanghai Shenhua Shanghai Shenhua Football Club () is a Chinese professional football club based in Shanghai, that competes in . Shanghai Shenhua plays its home matches at the Shanghai Stadium, located within Xuhui District. The owner of Shanghai Shenhua is ...

. Born in Japan, he plays for the

Hong Kong national football team The Hong Kong national football team (; recognised as Hong Kong, China by FIFA) represents Hong Kong in international association football, football and is controlled by the Football Association of Hong Kong, China, the governing body for foot ...

Club career

Kitchee

Chan made his league debut at the young age of 16 on 16 February 2019 against

Tai Po Tai Po is an List of areas of Hong Kong, area in the New Territories of Hong Kong. It refers to the vicinity of the traditional market towns in the area presently known as Tai Po Old Market or Tai Po Kau Hui () (the original "Tai Po Mark ...

. Chan scored his first

Sapling Cup Hong Kong Sapling Cup (), currently known as JC Sapling Cup () for sponsorship reasons, is a Hong Kong domestic football competition contested by the Hong Kong Premier League teams. The objective of the Cup is to provide more playing opportunitie ...

goal against

Lee Man Lee Man Football Club () is a Hong Kong professional football club based in Tseung Kwan O, which currently competes in the Hong Kong Premier League. Lee & Man Chemical Limited is the major sponsor of the club. The club won their first league ti ...

on 10 January 2020. He was announced as the man of the match for the last game.

Real Unión

On 20 January 2023, it was announced that Chan would join

Real Unión Real Unión Club, S.A.D. is a Spanish football club based in Irun, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country, in the province of Gipuzkoa, near the border with France. Founded on 15 May 1915 it currently plays in Primera División RF ...

on loan until June 2024. On 21 January 2023, Chan made his debut for Real Unión B. On 11 February 2023, Chan made his debut for Real Unión in

Primera Federación The Primera Federación, officially the Primera Federación Versus e-Learning for sponsorship reasons (formerly known as Primera RFEF). is the third tier of the Spanish football league system beginning with the 2021–22 season. It is administe ...

. On 18 February 2023, in his second game for Real Unión, Chan scored his first goal for the club in a 1–0 win against

CD Calahorra Club Deportivo Calahorra is a Spanish football team based in Calahorra, in the autonomous community of La Rioja. Founded in 1946 it plays in , holding home games at the '' Estadio Municipal La Planilla'', with a capacity of 5,000 spectators. H ...

, making him the first player from Hong Kong to score in any level of

Spanish football Football is the most popular sport in Spain, with 61% of the population interested in it. Spain has some of the most influential teams in Europe (Real Madrid, Barcelona, Atlético de Madrid, Sevilla, Valencia, and others) as well as many playe ...

. On 19 June 2023, it was announced that Chan would leave the club.

Shanghai Shenhua

On 17 June 2024, Chan joined

club

. On 13 July 2024, Chan made his debut for the club in

International career

Chan was also eligible to play for

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

, through his Japanese heritage from maternal side. Chan made his international debut against

Chinese Taipei "Chinese Taipei" is the term used in various international organizations and tournaments for groups or delegations representing the Republic of China (ROC), a country commonly known as Taiwan. Due to the One China principle stipulated by the ...

on 11 June 2019 at the age of only 16. He became the youngest player who has ever represented the national team. In May 2021, he was selected for the Hong Kong squad for the

2022 FIFA World Cup qualification The 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification was the FIFA World Cup qualification, qualifying process which decided the 31 teams that would join hosts Qatar national football team, Qatar, who received an automatic spot, at the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Par ...

held in

Bahrain Bahrain, officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, is an island country in West Asia. Situated on the Persian Gulf, it comprises a small archipelago of 50 natural islands and an additional 33 artificial islands, centered on Bahrain Island, which mak ...

. On 26 December 2023, Chan was named in Hong Kong'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 ...

Career statistics

Club

;Notes

International

International goals

Honours

Kitchee *

Hong Kong Premier League The Hong Kong Premier League () is a Hong Kong professional football league organised by the Football Association of Hong Kong, China. It is currently sponsored by BOC Life and officially known as BOC Life Hong Kong Premier League (). The inau ...

: 2019–20,

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

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 teams that play in the Hong K ...

: 2018–19,

, 2023–24 *

Hong Kong FA Cup Hong Kong FA Cup () is a knockout cup competition in Hong Kong football, run by and named after The Hong Kong Football Association. The first edition of the competition was held in 1975, before then the cup was known as the Golden Jubilee Cup. T ...

: 2018–19,

Hong Kong Sapling Cup Hong Kong Sapling Cup (), currently known as JC Sapling Cup () for sponsorship reasons, is a Hong Kong domestic football (soccer), football competition contested by the Hong Kong Premier League teams. The objective of the Cup is to provide more p ...

: 2019–20 Shanghai Shenhua *

Chinese FA Super Cup The Chinese FA Super Cup (), formerly named Chinese Football Super Cup (), is a Chinese football super cup competition that takes place every year before the start of the new season. It is contested between the champions of the previous Chinese Su ...

2025 So far, the year has seen the continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudanese civil war, and the Gaza war. Internal crises in Bangladesh post-resignation v ...

References

External links

*
Shinichi Chan
at HKFA * {{DEFAULTSORT:Chan, Shinichi Living people 2002 births Hong Kong men's footballers Hong Kong men's youth international footballers Hong Kong men's international footballers Hong Kong expatriate men's footballers Hong Kong people of Japanese descent Chinese people of Japanese descent Japanese people of Chinese descent Men's association football midfielders Men's association football defenders Hong Kong First Division League players Hong Kong Premier League players Primera Federación players Chinese Super League players Resources Capital FC players Kitchee SC players Real Unión footballers Shanghai Shenhua F.C. players Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in China Hong Kong expatriate sportspeople in China 2023 AFC Asian Cup players