Chen Zhizhao

Chen Zhizhao Chinese: 陈志钊; pinyin: Chén Zhìzhāo; born 14 March 1988), known as Zizao in Brazil, is a Chinese former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder.

In this Chinese name, the family name is Chen.
Chen Zhizhao
陈志钊
Personal information
Full name Chen Zhizhao
Date of birth (1988-03-14) 14 March 1988
Place of birth Panyu, Guangdong, China
Height 1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)
Position(s) Attacking midfielder
Youth career
2000–2003 Guangzhou Yida Football School
2003–2006 Shanghai Shenhua
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2007–2009 Citizen 23 (2)
2009–2013 Shanghai Shenxin 48 (13)
2012–2013 → Corinthians (loan) 2 (0)
2014–2015 Beijing Guoan 35 (5)
2016–2022 Guangzhou R&F 123 (9)
International career
2017 China B
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 20 June 2023
Chen Zhizhao
Traditional Chinese陳志釗
Simplified Chinese陈志钊

In his career he represented Citizen before joining second tier club Nanchang Hengyuan where he gained promotion with them and then became the teams top goalscorer in the following season as he helped them remain within the top tier. He would go on to have a brief spell with Brazilian team Corinthians before returning to China with Beijing Guoan. He would spend seven seasons at Guangzhou R&F in the Chinese Super League before ending his career.

Club career

Chen Zhizhao started his football career playing for Shanghai Shenhua's youth academy; however, he was unable to break into their first team. He then transferred to Hong Kong First Division League side Citizen AA at the beginning of the 2007-08 league season where he would make his debut for the club against Lanwa Redbull in the first game of the season in a 0-0 draw.[1] He quickly established himself within the team and would play in 13 league games and see Citizen come second within the league. Throughout the season he would also play in all of Citizen's cup games and would score his first goal against Eastern AA on 24 November 2007 in a Hong Kong Senior Shield game that Citizen lose 3-1.[2] His following goals would come in the Hong Kong FA Cup where he scored against Eastern AA on 10 May 2008 in a semifinal game that saw them win 1-0.[3] This was then followed by a goal in the final of the FA Cup win against Wofoo Tai Po on 18 May 2008 that saw Citizen win 2-0.[4]

Chen moved back to mainland China and signed a five-year contract with Nanchang Hengyuan (now known as Shanghai Shenxin) on 26 February 2009.[5] He scored three goals as Nanchang finished second in the China League One and won promotion to the Chinese Super League for the first time. He scored ten goals and assisted eight times in thirty appearances which secured Nanchang's stay in the top flight for the next season.

Chen was linked with Liga de Honra side C.D. Trofense in January 2011. Trofense was interested with Chen, but Nanchang blocked this transfer. According to Chen's contract with the club on 26 February 2009, if a non-Chinese football club provided a bid of around €200,000 for him before 26 February 2011, then Nanchang would accept the transfer without any condition.[5] However, Nanchang insisted that €200,000 was provided by Chen's agency instead of the Portuguese club; besides, in the new contract which signed in early 2010, there were no related contract terms, so they had enough reasons to block this transfer.[6][7] Chen refused to return to the club after this incident.[8] He didn't make any appearances for the club in the 2011 season and instead played for Panyu Pearl, a futsal team in his hometown.

In February 2012, Chen was loaned to Campeonato Brasileiro Série A side Corinthians until 31 December 2013.[9] He made his debut for Corinthians in a 2–0 defeat against Cruzeiro on 17 October 2012, coming on for Welder at the 80th minute. Chen made his first start for the club on 20 January 2013, assisting the first goal in a 1-1 draw against Paulista. On 11 March 2013, Chen was called up to the Chinese national team by then manager José Antonio Camacho to be a part of the squad that would face Iraq during 2015 AFC Asian Cup qualification.[10] He returned to his parent club Shanghai Shenxin after the 2013 season.

On 28 February 2014, Chen transferred to fellow Chinese Super League side Beijing Guoan.[11] He received a ban of four matches at the beginning of 2014 season by Chinese Football Association for age falsification which he changed his age from 14 March 1988 to 14 March 1989.[12] He made his debut for the club on 24 March 2014 in a 2–0 win against Shanghai Greenland. He scored his first goal for the club on 27 April 2014 in a 1–0 win against Harbin Yiteng.

On 22 December 2015, Chen transferred to his hometown club Guangzhou R&F in the Chinese Super League.[13] On 4 March 2016, he made his debut in a 2–1 home defeat against Hebei China Fortune.[14] He scored his first goal for the club on 21 August 2016 by shooting the winner in the 87th minute against Chongqing Lifan, which gave Guangzhou R&F a 5–4 away win.[15] On 18 June 2017, Chen was involved in a collision during a league match with Shanghai SIPG.[16] Although just being cautioned, he received a ban of 7 matches by the Chinese Football Association.[17] In September 2020 Chen made his 100th appearance for Guangzhou R&F.[18] On 2 February 2023 he would retire from professional football.[19]

Career statistics
As of 31 December 2022.[20]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National Cup League Cup Continental Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Citizen AA 2007-08 HK First Division League 1303210-1[lower-alpha 1]1183
2008-09 1020000-2[lower-alpha 1]0122
Total 23232100031305
Shanghai Shenxin 2009 China League One 183----183
2010 Chinese Super League 3010----3010
2011 0000---00
Total 4813000000004813
Corinthians 2012 Série A 1000-000[lower-alpha 2]010
2013 1000-003[lower-alpha 2]040
Total 200000003050
Beijing Guoan 2014 Chinese Super League 21430-00-244
2015 14120-40-201
Total 35550004000445
Guangzhou R&F 2016 Chinese Super League 17140---211
2017 22130---251
2018 25360---313
2019 14010---150
2020 14220---162
2021 16110---171
2022 15120---171
Total 12391900000001429
Career total 2312927210406126932
  1. Appearances in Hong Kong Senior Challenge Shield
  2. Appearances in Campeonato Paulista

Honours

Club
Citizen AA
Corinthians

Individual

References
  1. Match Results: 2007-09-09 at hkfa.com Retrieved 2012-07-17
  2. Match Results: 2007-11-24 at hkfa.com Retrieved 2012-07-17
  3. Match Results: 2008-05-10 at hkfa.com Retrieved 2012-07-17
  4. Match Results: 2008-05-18 at hkfa.com Retrieved 2012-07-17
  5. 陈志钊身陷与南昌队“合同监” 想转会葡甲球队 at chinanews.com 2011-06-18 Retrieved 2012-07-17 (in Chinese)
  6. 揭秘陈志钊留洋失败始末 不回南昌或三年无球踢 Archived 2012-05-06 at the Wayback Machine at sports.163.com 2011-02-18 Retrieved 2012-07-17 (in Chinese)
  7. 陳志釗本賽季留洋夢碎 at soccer.sina.com.hk 2011-03-11 Retrieved 2012-07-17 (in Chinese)
  8. 陳志釗下定決心不回頭 仲裁失敗也不回南昌 Archived April 7, 2012, at the Wayback Machine at Retrieved 2012-07-17 (in Chinese)
  9. "Zizao" é o novo reforço do Corinthians Archived 2014-01-06 at the Wayback Machine at corinthians.com.br 28/02/12 Retrieved 2012-07-17 (in Portuguese)
  10. Sem jogar pelo Corinthians, Zizao é convocado para amistoso da seleção chinesa
  11. 国安正式宣布陈志钊加盟 签约3年身披23号球衣 at sports.sohu.com 2014-02-28 Retrieved 2014-02-28
  12. 陈志钊及海归新星因改年龄已被执行停赛4场 at sports.sina.com 2014-03-23 Retrieved 2016-12-21
  13. 广州富力官方宣布陈志钊加盟 国安飞翼签约五年 at sports.sohu.com 2015-12-22 Retrieved 2015-12-22
  14. 中超-热鸟建功罗森文染红 华夏2-1富力中超首胜 at sports.sina.com 2016-03-04 Retrieved 2017-05-12
  15. 中超-陈志钊绝杀肖智2球 进球大战富力5-4力帆 at sports.sina.com 2016-08-21 Retrieved 2017-05-12
  16. 双方爆发激烈冲突2将染红 富力1-1上港7轮不胜 at sohu.com 2017-06-18 Retrieved 2017-06-23 (in Chinese)
  17. 陈志钊因死球推倒对手遭处罚:停赛7场+罚款3.5万 at sina.com 2017-06-22 Retrieved 2017-06-23 (in Chinese)
  18. "【足协杯】后发制人，广州富力点球淘汰卫冕冠军". Retrieved 7 December 2020.
  19. "广州城老将陈志钊正式退役 曾留洋巴甲豪门俱乐部". sports.sina.cn. 2023-02-02. Retrieved 2023-02-02.
  20. 陈志钊. sodasoccer (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 2018-11-12. Retrieved 2016-11-02.
Awards
Preceded by Hong Kong FA Cup
Top Scorer
(with Giovane)
2007–08		 Succeeded by
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.