Sun Wen (; born 6 April 1973) is a Chinese former professional footballer who played as a forward. She previously captained the China national team and the Atlanta Beat of the Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA). In 2000, she won the FIFA Female Player of the Century along with Michelle Akers. Sun won both the Golden Ball (top player) and Golden Boot (top scorer) for her performance at the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup. She is considered one of the all-time greats of the women's game. After the retirement, she became vice-president of the

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 ...

in 2019.

Early life

Sun began playing football around the age of ten. Her father, Sun Zonggao, was a recreational football player who took Sun with him to watch matches in the Chinese men's league. Sun credits him for influencing her foray into the sport. Sun studied Chinese literature at the University of Shanghai.

Playing career

Club

Shanghai SVA

Sun played for the Shanghai team in the Chinese women's league.

Atlanta Beat

Sun played for the Atlanta Beat of the Women's United Soccer Association from 2001 to 2002. She was the first overall pick of the WUSA's Inaugural Draft (together in the team, also was drafted her Asian compatriot Homare Sawa), but a knee and ankle injury limited her first season with the Beat to 13 games with five starts. During the league's semifinal match against the Philadelphia Charge, the Beat were down 2–0; however, Sun scored on a penalty kick and then provided the assist on the equalizer goal with a corner kick headed in by Cindy Parlow. The Beat would go on to win the match 3–2. She then notched the Beat's third goal in the Founders Cup, helping the team to an eventual 3–3 tie during regulation. The San Jose CyberRays won the title in a penalty kick shootout. During the 2002 season, Sun played in 18 games, making 10 starts. She scored four goals as the Beat earned another chance at the playoffs, but the Beat were eliminated in the semifinals. Sun announced her retirement from the WUSA in January 2003 to return to China in preparation for the 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup.

International

Sun appeared on China's national squad at the age of 17 and went on to appear in four

FIFA Women's World Cup The FIFA Women's World Cup is an international association football competition contested by the senior list of women's national association football teams, women's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internationale de Footb ...

tournaments for China and became one of three women to have played all of China's 15 matches in its three World Cup appearances. In 1999, she had 10 goals in her World Cup career, leaving her tied for second place on an all-time scoring list. Sun helped the national team win the Asian Cup in 1991, 1993, 1995 and 1997. Sun led China to a silver medal at the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

Athens, Georgia Athens is a consolidated city-county in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. Downtown Athens lies about northeast of downtown Atlanta. The University of Georgia, the state's flagship public university and an Research I university, ...

. During the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup, Sun scored seven goals and earned the Golden Ball (top player) and Golden Boot (top scorer) at the tournament. She returned to the Chinese women's team from a two-year retirement on 15 December 2005. Due to injury reasons, Sun retired again after winning AFC Women's Asian Cup in 2006.

Matches and goals scored at World Cup and Olympic tournaments

Sun played 28 matches and scored 16 goals in 4 world cup tournaments and 2 Olympics: China 1991, Sweden 1995, Atlanta 1996, USA 1999, Sydney 2000, USA 2003; she played and started every match for

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. Sun Wen, with her China teams, won a silver medal at Atlanta 1996 Olympics, and finished second at USA 1999 world cup.

Honors and awards

A strong striker with great skills and passing abilities, Sun won both the Golden Boot (which she shared with Sissi, of

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

) and the Golden Ball for the 1999 Women's World Cup, and became the first woman to be nominated for the

Asian Football Confederation The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) is the governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal in most countries and territories in Asia. The AFC was formed in 1954. It has 47 members. The Asian Ladies Football Confederation ( ...

player of the year award. In 2002, she received the FIFA Internet Award in the FIFA Female Player of the Century voting. While the overall award was won by American Michelle Akers, Sun received the most internet votes on the FIFA-website.

International goals

Personal life and Football administration career

After her retirement, Sun Wen worked in the Chinese media, advertising and education. In August 2019, she was elected as the vice-president of the

with a mission of the development of the women's football in China. https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/201908/23/WS5d5f4f03a310cf3e3556783e.html She also worked as member of FIFA Technical Study Group in the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup hosted in France and member of the Bid Evaluation Task Force for the 2027 FIFA Women's World Cup.

References

Match reports

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sun, Wen 1973 births Living people Footballers from Shanghai Chinese women's footballers 21st-century Chinese sportswomen Women's association football forwards Atlanta Beat (WUSA) players Washington Freedom (soccer) players Women's United Soccer Association players Olympic footballers for China China women's international footballers 1991 FIFA Women's World Cup players Footballers at the 1994 Asian Games 1995 FIFA Women's World Cup players Footballers at the 1996 Summer Olympics Footballers at the 1998 Asian Games 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup players Footballers at the 2002 Asian Games 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup players FIFA Women's Century Club Olympic medalists in football Asian Games medalists in football Medalists at the 1994 Asian Games Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1998 Asian Games Medalists at the 2002 Asian Games Asian Games gold medalists for China Asian Games silver medalists for China Olympic silver medalists for China Chinese expatriate women's footballers Chinese expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate women's soccer players in the United States