Zheng Zhi 郑智

Zheng Zhi (Chinese: 郑智; pinyin: Zheng Zhi; born 20 August 1980) is a Chinese professional footballer who currently plays for and captains Chinese Super League club Guangzhou F.C. After starting his career as a defender, Zheng was later moved into a central midfield role by then head coach Zhu Guanghu at Shenzhen Jianlibao and experienced immediate success there by winning the 2004 league title with the club. A move to Shandong Luneng saw a prolific goal scoring period in his career and he soon became the captain of the Chinese national team, which then led to moves to Charlton Athletic and Celtic. He moved back to China in 2010 and joined Guangzhou Evergrande, making over 300 appearances so far as captain while helping the club win all major trophies a Chinese club could compete for, including Chinese Super League for a record 8 times and AFC Champions League twice.

Club Career

Early career

Zheng Zhi started his football career in 1990 playing for various Liaoning youth academies before playing for Liaoning Youth in 1998 in the China League Two, starting out playing as a defender. In 2000, Liaoning Youth were involved in a legal battle between Yixing Industrial Co., Ltd. and Liaoning Sports School for the ownership of the club that saw all their assets frozen, including player transfer rights. This saw Zheng spend a year without playing professional football. In 2001, he was loaned to top-tier club Shenzhen Jianlibao who were coached by then manager Zhu Guanghu, his former manager during his time with the Chinese under-23 national team. He transferred to the club in November 2001 for a fee of ¥3.5 million. While he was initially deployed as a defender, he shifted into a more of a playmaker role and aided Shenzhen to the top tier title for the first time in the club's history. In January 2005, Zheng transferred to fellow Chinese Super League side Shandong Luneng for a transfer fee of ¥9.5 million.

Charlton Athletic

On 29 December 2006, Zheng was l

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