Fan Zhiyi
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- This is a Chinese name; the family name is Fan.
Fan Zhiyi (Chinese: 范志毅, pinyin: Fàn Zhìyì, born on November 6, 1969 in Shanghai) is a professional football central defender from the People's Republic of China.
Fan's biggest strengths is his superb fitness as well as his excellent positional play and distribution from the back. The 6-feet tall defender also has good aerial ability and strength.
[edit] Biography
A folk hero and football icon in his native country, Fan was a regular fixture in the People's Republic of China national team and was a very influential player, even winning the Captain's armband. He anchored their defence and was capped a record 107 times for his country before his international retirement.
In Fan's early playing days for Shanghai Shenhua in the Chinese First Division, Fan's versatility as a player meant he played in several positions until he settled into central defence as a sweeper.
In season 1998/99, Fan made national headlines when he left Shanghai to join English First Division side Crystal Palace, where he, along with Sun Jihai, became the first Chinese footballers to play in the English leagues. Fan soon established himself as an important player at Palace and was popular with the Palace fans and staff, as well as winning Palace many new fans in the UK and back in China. He was also captain of the Crystal Palace team for a while and scored several goals, especially as headers. In 2001, he attracted the attention of Liverpool F.C. due to his strong performances both for club and country. The coach of Crystal Palace decided to allow Fan Zhiyi to go on transfer because Fan was spending too much time for the China national football team during the World Cup 2002 qualifiers.
After securing 2002 World Cup qualification for the PRC in October 2001, Fan was transferred to Scottish Premiership outfit Dundee F.C. for £350,000. He managed to score against Celtic F.C. at Celtic Park during a 3-1 loss with a good long-distance shot after positioning himself well when he received a pass from Nacho Novo.
In March 2002, he moved from Dundee FC to join Shanghai Zhongyuan on loan.
After a spell on trial at Gillingham, Fan joined English Second Division side Cardiff City in November 2002.
In October 2003 the much-travelled veteran returned to Asia and signed a one-year contract to become player-coach of Hong Kong side Buler Rangers. However his stay in Hong Kong lasted just several months, as in early 2004 he moved back across the border to become the captain of Chinese Division-1 side Zhuhai Zhongbang in Zhuhai. The team was promoted to Super League one year later and renamed to Shanghai Zhongbang.
On a final note, Fan has often stated his desire to move into coaching once he hangs up his boots for good.
[edit] Career history
- Buler Rangers (2005-)
- Zhuhai Zhongbang (2004-05)
- Buler Rangers (2003-04)
- Cardiff City (2002-03)
- Shanghai Zhongyuan (on loan from March-July 2002)
- Dundee F.C. (2001-2002)
- Crystal Palace (1998-2001)
- Shanghai Shenhua (1994-1998)
[edit] External links
Preceded by Nawaf Al-Temyat |
Asian Footballer of the Year 2001 |
Succeeded by Shinji Ono |
| Preceded by Andy Linighan |
Crystal Palace F.C. Player of The Year 2001 |
Succeeded by Dougie Freedman |
Preceded by Li Bing |
Chinese Football Association Footballer of the Year 1995 |
Succeeded by Su Maozhen |
| Preceded by Peng Weiguo |
Chinese Football Association Golden Ball awardee 1995,1996 |
Succeeded by Hao Haidong |
| Preceded by Hu Zhijun |
Chinese Football Association Golden Boot awardee 1995 |
Succeeded bySu Maozhen |
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