Zheng Zhi

Early career

Zheng Zhi started his football career in 1990 playing for various Liaoning youth academies before playing for Liaoning Liaoqing 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 Taishan for a transfer fee of ¥9.5 million.

Charlton Athletic

On 29 December 2006, Zheng was loaned out to Premier League side Charlton Athletic until the end of the season with an option to buy. He had been on trial with the club in November 2006. He made his debut for the club on 10 February 2007 in a 2–0 loss against Manchester United, coming on as a substitute for Amdy Faye. He scored his first goal on 18 March 2007 in a 2–0 win against Newcastle United. Zheng…

Zheng joined the Chinese under-23 national team as the only player called up from the third tier. He made his debut for the Chinese national team on 7 December 2002 in a 3–1 win against Syria. He scored his first international goal on 29 January 2004 in a 1–0 win against Macedonia. After Zhu Guanghu took over as the manager in 2005, he was shifted into centre midfield and cemented his spot as the national team's first choice midfielder. Zheng captained the under-23 national team that competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics. Under Gao Hongbo's management, Zheng was appointed captain of the national team. In an interview on 3 August 2016, Zheng said, "This is the last time I will be in the final stage of FIFA World Cup qualification," indicating that after the 2018 FIFA World Cup, he would retire from the national team. On 2 June 2018, Zheng won his 100th cap for China in a 2–0 win against Thailand, making him the fourth Chinese footballer to win 100 caps. On 16 June 2023, the Chinese FA held a retirement ceremony for Zheng prior to the national team's 4-0 win against Myanmar in Dalian. Zheng eventually played 108 games for China and scored 15 goals.

On 3 January 2026, Zheng was appointed as the head coach of Qingdao West Coast.

Club

International

Scores and results list China's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Zhang goal.