Zhang Yuning (footballer, born 1977)
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Zhang Yuning | ||
| Date of birth | May 25, 1977 | ||
| Place of birth | Shenyang, Liaoning, China | ||
| Height | 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in) | ||
| Playing position | Striker | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1985–1993 | Liaoning | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1994–2002 | Liaoning | 73 | (34) |
| 1995 | → Beijing Shougang (loan) | ? | (?) |
| 2003–2006 | Shanghai Shenhua | 53 | (21) |
| 2006–2007 | → Queensland Roar (loan) | 6 | (0) |
| 2008 | Liaoning | 0 | (0) |
| 2016 | Shenyang West Winner | ? | (?) |
| Total | 132 | (55) | |
| National team‡ | |||
| 2001–2005 | China | 24 | (8) |
| Teams managed | |||
| 2009 | Wenzhou Tomorrow (Assistant) | ||
| 2011 | Shenyang Dongjin (Assistant) | ||
| 2014 | Fujian Broncos | ||
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 5 May 2010. ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 5 May 2010 |
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Zhang Yuning (Simplified Chinese: 张玉宁; Traditional Chinese: 張玉寧; Pinyin: Zhāng Yùníng) (born May 25, 1977 in Shenyang) is a former Chinese international footballer. After retiring from football he took up coaching to become the reserve team coach for Wenzhou Tomorrow until he left at the beginning of the 2010 league season.
Zhang started his football career with his local football team Liaoning F.C. where he progressed to their senior team in 1994 league campaign at the dawn of full professionalism within the Chinese game. He was initially loaned out to third tier club Beijing Shougang before he went on to make his debut for Liaoning where he soon made a name for himself when he was the clubs top goalscorer in the 1997 campaign. By the following season he would show himself to be a prolific striker who helped guide Liaoning to promotion to the top tier. Once in the top division Zhang quickly adapted to the higher demands and narrowly saw Liaoning miss out on winning the league title.
As a young, tall and strong prolific centre forward, Zhang quickly caught the imagination of the Chinese tabloid press who often referred to him as the David Beckham of China, however at the height of his popularity on April 26, 2000 he was involved in a serious car accident. It was discovered that Zhang was drink driving while driving some team mates and friends home, however while Zhang sustained minor injuries his team mate Qu Leheng sustained serious injuries, which resulted in Qu being left a paraplegic and consigned to a wheelchair for life. Qu would go on to successfully sue Zhang 2.34 million yuan (282,000 US dollars) for compensation on November 22, 2004. Zhang would also go on to make a public apology to Qu and despite publicly believing that the compensation was especially high he decided to abnegate his right to ask for a retrial.
While his trail to Qu went on Zhang was able to return to his football career and made his international debut against Egypt in a friendly on January 17, 2001 that ended in a 0–0 draw. English club Leicester City were interested in signing Zhang on loan in November 2001 however, the Home Office was doubtful that he had not played regularly for the national team, rejecting his application for a work permit. Leicester did rekindle their interest in him in November 2004, after being recommended by Bobby Houghton, though he again failed in his work permit. Instead Zhang signed on for Shanghai Shenhua for a reported ten million yuan in the 2003 league season where he went on to win the league title in his debut campaign with them. Unfortunately in 2013 the Chinese Football Association would revoke the league title after it was discovered the Shenhua General manager Lou Shifang had bribed officials to be bias to Shenhua in games that season.
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