Cheng Xiaopeng

Cheng Xiaopeng (simplified Chinese: 程晓鹏; traditional Chinese: 程曉鵬; pinyin: Chéng Xiǎopéng; born 14 April 1985), is a retired Chinese footballer, who played as a goalkeeper. He scored 4 goals in his professional goalkeeper career, all came from penalty kicks (three in the Chinese Super League and one in the China League One).

In this Chinese name, the family name is Cheng.
Cheng Xiaopeng
程晓鹏
Personal information
Full name Cheng Xiaopeng
Date of birth (1985-04-14) April 14, 1985
Place of birth Jinan, Shandong, China
Height 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
Position(s) Goalkeeper
Youth career
2000–2003 Bayi Football Team
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2004–2011 Nanchang Bayi Hengyuan 29 (4)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 2012-07-17

Club career

Cheng Xiaopeng was born in Jinan, Shandong where he initially started out as a forward with his good friend and fellow footballer Han Peng who was at the Shandong Luneng youth team. Cheng would soon move to the Bayi youth team where the team's Head coach Pei Encai would move him into the goalkeeping position. As this was going on the Bayi Football Team was being taken over by Shanghai Hengyuan Football Club and the club was renamed as Nanchang Bayi Hengyuan by 2003.[1] At the new club he would gradually break into the senior team and go on to be part of the squad that won the 2005 Chinese league two division title.[2] After several years playing within the second tier he would eventually become the club's first-choice goalkeeper by the 2009 league season, however he was only limited to sixteen appearances throughout the campaign as his emotional behaviour often saw him dropped especially as his bad temper saw him lash out at the oppositions fans on August 21, 2009 in a game against Liaoning Whowin that saw him banned for two games on August 23, 2009.[3]

Cheng's flamboyant behaviour on the field would go on to see him become his club's first goalkeeper to actually score a goal when on October 14, 2009 he scored a penalty kick in a league game against Beijing BIT in a 3–1 victory.[4] This was followed up by the club winning promotion to the top tier after they came runners-up to Liaoning Whowin at the end of the season.[5] With Cheng remaining in goal at the start of the 2010 Chinese Super League season he would continue to showcase his goalscoring abilities when on April 3, 2010 he scored another penalty kick, this time against Shanghai Shenhua in a 2–1 defeat, however he walked away with the distinction of being the first ever goalkeeper to score in the Chinese Super League.[6] As the season continued Nanchang Hengyuan would be dragged into a relegation battle and while Cheng actually added to goalscoring tally he wasn't keeping many clean sheets and was soon dropped from the team as they survived relegation and finished thirteenth before the club decided to release him in 2011.[7]

Honours

Nanchang Bayi Hengyuan

References
  1. Nanchang Hengyuan Moving Back to Shanghai? at wildeastfootball.net February 12, 2012 Retrieved 2012-07-17
  2. China 2005 at rsssf.org 26 Oct 2006 Retrieved 2012-07-17
  3. 程晓鹏就"飞踹门"事件公开表态 向辽宁球迷致歉 Archived August 27, 2011, at the Wayback Machine at sports.sdnews.com.cn 2009-8-26 Retrieved 2012-07-17
  4. 门神点杀射手王添彩 南昌3-1理工冲超落后东亚 at sports.sohu.com 2009-10-14 Retrieved 2012-07-17
  5. China 2009 at rsssf.org 23 Apr 2010 Retrieved 2012-07-17
  6. 南昌首球创四项纪录 门将进球填中国足球一空白 at sports.sohu.com 2010-04-03 Retrieved 2012-07-17
  7. China 2010 at rsssf.org 21 Jun 2012 Retrieved 2012-07-17
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