Sun Jihai ( zh, s=孙继海, p=Sūn Jìhǎi; ; born 30 September 1977) is a Chinese former professional footballer who played in the English

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

. Sun is one of the most well-known footballers in

East Asia East Asia is a geocultural region of Asia. It includes China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan, plus two special administrative regions of China, Hong Kong and Macau. The economies of Economy of China, China, Economy of Ja ...

, as he is the first

East Asian East Asia is a geocultural region of Asia. It includes China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan, plus two special administrative regions of China, Hong Kong and Macau. The economies of Economy of China, China, Economy of Ja ...

footballer to score in the Premier League when he scored a goal for Manchester City in 2002, and also the first Chinese footballer to score in the

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

. Sun was a member of the China national team that qualified for the 2002 FIFA World Cup. Sun founded Beijing Haiqiu Technology Company (HQ Sports) in February 2016, while he still played for Beijing Renhe in the China League One division. Subsequently, in December of the same year, Sun ended his 22 years of professional football career by announcing his official retirement in a public event. Also at the same occasion, Sun announced the successful first round funding of his company, led by China Media Capital (CMC), Tencent and Yuan Xun Fund. HQ Sports has now developed to a staff force of more than 100 and with focus on Sports Technology, Media and Datatainment business in China and Worldwide.

Club career

Dalian Shide

Sun Jihai started his football career with Dalian Shide in 1995 and made his first appearance on 28 May 1995 against Sichuan Quanxing. Like many of the top young Chinese players of his generation, he wanted to go to the Chinese youth training camp in Brazil that was sponsored by Jianlibao. However, he was not selected as he was not deemed to possess enough potential. Sun showed great character by not letting this huge disappointment derail him and worked very hard to establish himself at his club. Sun enjoyed a successful spell with Dalian as the club won four league titles and one Chinese FA Cup title during his time there.

Crystal Palace

After three successful years at Dalian Shide, Sun along with Fan Zhiyi signed for Crystal Palace in August 1998. They became the first ever Chinese footballers to play in the English leagues. Sun made his debut for Crystal Palace in a 3–0 loss against Bury in the first leg of a 1998–99 Football League Cup match. He was recalled by Dalian who struggled heavily at the bottom of the league in the 1999 season.

Manchester City

In February 2002, Sun signed for the English side Manchester City from Crystal Palace for £2 million and became the first Asian player to sign for the club. He made his debut for the club in a 4–2 win against Coventry City. His solid defence and dangerous attacking forays won over many City fans. He was voted the best player for the club in September 2002. In October 2002, Sun became the first

footballer to score in the

when he headed home the first goal in a 2–0 win over

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. The team compete in the ...

. At the beginning of the 2004–05 season, Sun damaged his cruciate ligaments in a tackle with Chelsea striker Eiður Guðjohnsen and missed the rest of the season. After recuperating and following a strict physical regimen devised by his father, Sun re-installed his place as a regular in the club's starting lineup. In the 2006–07 season, Sun was set back yet again by another injury and he made his return on 10 February 2007, against

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

which his side lost 2–1. With the arrival of Sven-Göran Eriksson as the new manager, Sun rarely played in the 2007–08 season. Sun played 14 games and only started 7 times in that season. He was replaced by Vedran Ćorluka at right back and Michael Ball played as the defensive substitute instead of Sun.

Sheffield United

On 2 July 2008, Sun signed a two-year deal with English Championship club Sheffield United. Sun only managed nineteen minutes in his first match for Sheffield United, getting sent off after picking up two yellows in a friendly. He went on to make his full debut in the opening fixture of the 2008–09 season against

. He was sent off during a game against Coventry City after a lunging tackle from behind on opposing player Michael Mifsud.

The Football Association The Football Association (the FA) is the Sports governing body, governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Bailiwick of Guernsey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest footb ...

charged him for his behavior after receiving a red card even with his past good disciplinary record and handed him an additional one-match ban. Having played regularly until November he succumbed to an injury and subsequently failed to force his way back into the first team and made only a handful of appearances in the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

in the second half of the season. Sun was then released from his contract in July 2009 with Sheffield United claiming he had "failed to settle" in

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

Return to China

In July 2009, Sun was loaned to Sheffield United's satellite team Chengdu Blades in the Chinese Super League, hoping to make an impact. He steadily established himself at Chengdu and helped them to achieve the club's best ever league position at seventh place. However, the club was relegated to China League One in the fallout of a match fixing scandal. He returned to Sheffield United after the loan was finished, but his contract ended and was left without a club to play for. On 8 January 2010, Sun signed a two-year contract with fellow top tier side Shaanxi Chanba. He was promoted as the team captain immediately and he extended his contract for another two years in December 2011. At the beginning of the 2012 season, Sun followed the club when it decided to move to Guizhou and rename themselves Guizhou Renhe. He played nineteen league matches and five Chinese FA Cup matches in the 2012 season as the club achieved fourth place that league season and were runners-up in the cup which gained them entry into

AFC Champions League The AFC Champions League Elite (abbreviated as the ACL Elite) is an annual continental club association football, football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation, and contested by Asia's List of top-division football clubs i ...

for the first time in the club's history. On 4 February 2015, Sun moved to fellow top tier side Chongqing Lifan on a free transfer. He made his debut for the club on 8 March 2014 in a 3–0 loss against Beijing Guoan. On 8 December 2015, Sun returned to second tier side Beijing Renhe on a free transfer. On 10 December 2016, Sun announced his retirement from football.

International career

Sun made his international debut for the China national team on 6 December 1996 against

Uzbekistan , image_flag = Flag of Uzbekistan.svg , image_coat = Emblem of Uzbekistan.svg , symbol_type = Emblem of Uzbekistan, Emblem , national_anthem = "State Anthem of Uzbekistan, State Anthem of the Republ ...

. At the 2002 FIFA World Cup in a group stage match against

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

, Sun picked up an ankle injury after a tackle from behind by Mauricio Solís after just 17 minutes. Unable to play, Sun was replaced after 25 minutes and sat out the rest of the group stage, while Solís was only shown a yellow card. On 7 June 2008, during a 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification match against

Qatar Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Geography of Qatar, Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares Qatar–Saudi Arabia border, its sole land b ...

, Sun was shown a straight red card for dissent while he was warming up as a substitute on the bench. China lost the match 1–0. He was given a ban of five matches by

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

and did not receive any call-ups to the national team after this incident.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Score and result list China's goal tally first, score column indicates score after Sun goal.''

Honours

Dalian Shide * Chinese Jia-A League: 1996,

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

* Chinese FA Cup: 2001 * Chinese FA Super Cup: 1997,

Manchester City *

Football League First Division The Football League First Division was the top division of the Football League in England from 1888 until the end of the 1991–92 season, when its teams broke away to form the Premier League. From 1992 to 2004, the name First Division was g ...

: 2001–02 Guizhou Renhe * Chinese FA Cup:

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

* Chinese FA Super Cup:

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

Individual *

Chinese Football Association The Chinese Football Association (), abbreviated as CFA (), is the governing body for association football, beach soccer and futsal in the People's Republic of China (Mainland China). The CFA organizes the men's and women's national teams an ...

Young Player of the Year: 1998 * Chinese Jia-A League Team of the Year:

* Chinese FA Super Cup Most Valuable Player:

* English Football Hall of Fame Special 2015 * IFFHS Legends

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sun, Jihai 1977 births Living people Chinese men's footballers 1996 AFC Asian Cup players 2002 FIFA World Cup players 2004 AFC Asian Cup players 2007 AFC Asian Cup players China men's international footballers Chinese expatriate men's footballers Footballers from Dalian Crystal Palace F.C. players Dalian Shide F.C. players Expatriate men's footballers in England Men's association football fullbacks Manchester City F.C. players Premier League players Sheffield United F.C. players English Football League players Chengdu Tiancheng F.C. players Chongqing Liangjiang Athletic F.C. players Beijing Chengfeng F.C. players Chinese Super League players China League One players 21st-century Chinese sportsmen Asian Games medalists in football Footballers at the 1998 Asian Games Asian Games bronze medalists for China Medalists at the 1998 Asian Games Chinese expatriate sportspeople in England 20th-century Chinese sportsmen