Xavier Chen

Xavier Chen (Chinese: 陳昌源/夏維耶; born 5 October 1983) is a former professional footballer who played as a right-back. He began his youth career with Anderlecht before moving to KV Kortrijk where he first played at senior level (2003–2007). After Kortrijk, he spent six years at KV Mechelen (2007–2013) and two at Guizhou Renhe (2013–2015) before returning to KV Mechelen. Born in Belgium, he represented Chinese Taipei at international level.

Xavier Chen
Personal information
Full name Xavier Chen
Date of birth (1983-10-05) 5 October 1983
Place of birth Sint-Agatha-Berchem, Brussels, Belgium
Height 1.74 m (5 ft 9 in)
Position(s) Right back
Youth career
1991–2003 Anderlecht
2003–2005 KV Kortrijk
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2005–2007 KV Kortrijk 38 (0)
2007–2013 KV Mechelen 124 (0)
2013–2015 Guizhou Renhe 75 (2)
2016–2017 KV Mechelen 18 (0)
Total 255 (2)
International career
2001–2002 Belgium U19 11 (0)
2011–2017 Chinese Taipei 9 (3)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Personal life

Chen was born to a French mother and a Taiwanese father. His paternal grandfather is a former diplomat who still lives in Taiwan.

Club career

Chen started his senior career in KV Kortrijk, but gained recognition in his first stint with KV Mechelen, where he became captain. Due to the inconvenience of traveling back and forth between Belgium and Taiwan, Chen decided to move to Chinese side Guizhou Renhe when he accepted CTFA's invitation to play for the national team. In January 2016, Chen returned to KV Mechelen, stating that he only wanted to play for a maximum of three years in China. A few Chinese teams showed interest to sign him, but he ultimately decided to return to his country of birth. Altogether, Chen spent seven seasons with KV Mechelen.[1]

International career

Chen's eligibility to play for Chinese Taipei was discovered by the CTFA public relations director Chen Chia-Ming in 2009[2] and Chen was invited to play for the national team. The Chinese Football Association of the mainland had also made an attempt to recruit Chen three months after the CTFA did. On 24 May 2011, encouraged by his relatives, Chen elected to play for Chinese Taipei.[3][4]

Chen made his international debut against Malaysia on 3 July 2011 and scored the winning goal. This marked the first time in 10 years that Chinese Taipei beat an opponent that was ranked in the FIFA top 150. The attendance of the game was a record breaking at 15,335, which was 10,000 higher than average. On 9 October 2015, Chen scored the third goal in a 5–1 victory over Macau.

International goals
Scores and results list Taiwan's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Chen goal.[5]
List of international goals scored by Xavier Chen
No. Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
13 July 2011Taipei Municipal Stadium, Taipei, Taiwan Malaysia3–23–22014 FIFA World Cup qualification
29 October 2015Taipei Municipal Stadium, Taipei, Taiwan Macau3–15–1Friendly
310 June 2017Jalan Besar Stadium, Kallang, Singapore Singapore1–12–12019 AFC Asian Cup qualification

Honours

Guizhou Renhe

References
  1. KV Mechelen-icoon Xavier Chen verkoopt nu streetfood vice.com
  2. "Online game helps Taiwan unearth soccer talent". Taipei Times. 10 June 2010. Retrieved 11 June 2011.
  3. 點頭代表中華男足－夏維耶身分證 拚最速件 (in Chinese). China Times. 24 May 2011.
  4. 世足賽披台灣戰袍 夏維耶還缺身分證 (in Chinese). Liberty Times. 25 May 2011. Archived from the original on 30 May 2011.
  5. "Chen, Xavier". National Football Teams. Retrieved 10 June 2017.
  6. "足协杯-人和总分3-2恒大队史首夺冠 恒大三冠梦碎". Sports.sina.com.cn. 7 December 2013. Retrieved 19 August 2019.
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