Sun Jihai
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| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Sun Jihai | ||
| Date of birth | 30 September 1977 | ||
| Place of birth | Zhuanghe, Liaoning, China | ||
| Height | 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) | ||
| Playing position | Defender | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1995–2002 | Dalian Shide | 123 | (7) |
| 1998–1999 | → Crystal Palace (loan) | 23 | (0) |
| 2002–2008 | Manchester City | 130 | (3) |
| 2008–2009 | Sheffield United | 12 | (1) |
| 2009 | Chengdu Blades | 10 | (0) |
| 2010–2014 | Guizhou Renhe | 118 | (1) |
| 2015 | Chongqing Lifan | 28 | (0) |
| 2016 | Beijing Renhe | 9 | (0) |
| National team‡ | |||
| 1996–2008 | China | 80 | (1) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 22 October 2016. ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 18 September 2016 |
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Sun Jihai (simplified Chinese: 孙继海; traditional Chinese: 孫繼海; pinyin: Sūn Jìhǎi; born 30 September 1977) is a Chinese retired footballer. As the first Chinese player who played in English Premier League, Sun was also the first Chinese footballer who kicked goals in EPL as well as UEFA Cup. In February 2016, Sun founded Beijing Haiqiu Technology Company (HQ Sports), while at that moment he still played for Beijing Renhe in the China League One. In December, Sun officially announced his retirement from football. Also in this month, as the Chairman of HQ Sports, Sun announced that HQ Sports had raised tens of millions of investment, led by China Media Capital (CMC). Other investors also include Tencent and Yuan Xu Fund.
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.
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 league in the 1999 season.
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