Sun Jihai

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…

Sun made his international debut for the China national team on 6 December 1996 against Uzbekistan. At the 2002 FIFA World Cup in a group stage match against Costa Rica, 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, 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 and did not receive any call-ups to the national team after this incident.

Club

International

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

Dalian Shide

Chinese Jia-A League: 1996, 1997, 2000, 2001 Chinese FA Cup: 2001 Chinese FA Super Cup: 1997, 2000 Manchester City

Football League First Division: 2001–02 Guizhou Renhe

Chinese FA Cup: 2013 Chinese FA Super Cup: 2014 Individual

Chinese Football Association Young Player of the Year: 1998 Chinese Jia-A League Team of the Year: 1997, 2001 Chinese FA Super Cup Most Valuable Player: 2014 English Football Hall of Fame Special Category: 2015 IFFHS Legends