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Yang Chen (footballer, born 1974)

Yang Chen
杨晨
Personal information
Full name Yang Chen
Date of birth (1974-01-17) 17 January 1974 (age 43)
Place of birth Beijing, China
Height 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Playing position Striker / Midfielder
Club information
Current team
Guizhou Renhe (assistant manager)
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1993–1997 Beijing Guoan 55 (7)
1998 SV Waldhof Mannheim (loan) 0 (0)
1998–2002 Eintracht Frankfurt 94 (21)
2002–2003 FC St. Pauli 20 (2)
2003–2005 Shenzhen Jianlibao 49 (4)
2006–2007 Xiamen Lanshi 51 (4)
National team
1995–2004 China 35 (11)
Teams managed
2009–2010 Jiangsu Sainty (assistant)
2011–2013 Jiangsu Sainty (assistant)
2014 Beijing Renhe (assistant)
2015– Beijing Enterprises (assistant)(guidetrainer)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.

Yang Chen (simplified Chinese: 杨晨; traditional Chinese: 楊晨; pinyin: Yáng Chén; born 17 January 1974 in Beijing) is a former professional football player who is predominantly remembered for being the first Chinese player to play in the Fußball-Bundesliga and for representing the Chinese football team in the 2002 FIFA World Cup.

Beginning his professional football career with Beijing Guoan he would gradually establish himself within their team during his time with them, however it was only once he had a short loan period with lower league German SV Waldhof Mannheim in 1998 did he show his potential as a striker. This saw Bundesliga side Eintracht Frankfurt interested in him and were willing to make a transfer of 1,000,000 DEM for his services. Being the first Chinese footballer to play in the Bundesliga he would personally thrive within the league and score eight goals to helped the team to avoid relegation to 2. Bundesliga. Yang Chen would go on to be viewed as a trailblazer for Chinese footballers for his ability to score in one of the five major European football leagues and would personally go on to win the Chinese Footballer of the Year in 2000. While his time with Frankfurt was viewed as a success when new manager Felix Magath came in during the 2000–01 season Yang Chen did lose favour within the team and would have to fight back for his position before deciding to move to 2. Bundesliga team FC St. Pauli to ensure his place within the Chinese football team in preparation for the FIFA World Cup.


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