Ai Zhibo () (born 29 October 1982) is a

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player who currently plays as a defender for

Wuhan Zall Wuhan Yangtze River Football Club, formerly Wuhan Zall Football Club (), is a professional Chinese football club that currently participates in the Chinese Super League under licence from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The team is based in ...

in the

Chinese Super League The Chinese Football Association Super League, commonly known as Chinese Super League or CSL, currently known as the China Ping An Chinese Football Association Super League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest tier of professional football in ...

Club career

Ai Zhibo played for

Wuhan Hongjinlong Wuhan Optics Valley Football Club () is a defunct football club that was located in the city of Wuhan, Hubei province, China. The club's home stadium was Xinhua Road Sports Center, while the important matches were played at the more modern stadiu ...

for several seasons after graduating from their youth system in the 2001 league season. During his time at Wuhan he was often used as a squad player within the team, however despite this he was able to play his part in the team's promotion in winning the second tier league title in 2004. The following season would see him play his part in helping the team establish themselves within the

by aiding them to a fifth-place finish. After several seasons within the top tier Wuhan had a difficult 2008 season which saw them relegated and then controversially dissolved as a football club. Without a football club, Ai Zhibo would be allowed to leave for

Changchun Yatai Changchun Yatai Football Club () is a professional Chinese football club that currently participates in the Chinese Super League under licence from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The team is based in Changchun, Jilin and their home stadi ...

at the beginning of the 2009 Chinese Super League season. He would go on to make his club debut on March 28, 2009 against

Jiangsu Sainty F.C. Jiangsu Football Club (), later known as Jiangsu Sainty F.C. (2000–2016) and Jiangsu Suning F.C. (2016–2021), was a professional football club that participated in the Chinese Super League since 2009 until its dissolution in 2021. The te ...

in a 1-0 victory coming on as a late substitute. Once again Ai Zhibo was used as a squad player within the team and only made four appearances within his debut season. Things at Changchun did not improve the following season especially with the introduction of

Shen Xiangfu Shen Xiangfu (; ; born May 27, 1957 in Beijing) is a Chinese football coach who is the joint manager of The Regional Preferente de la Comunitat Valenciana side Atlético Museros as well as also being a former international football player. As ...

coming in as manager who dropped him from the first team. Ai Zhibo would have to wait during the 2010 summer transfer before another top tier side Jiangsu Sainty took him on loan and reunited him with his former manager at Wuhan,

Pei Encai Pei Encai (; born 1 December 1953) is a Chinese football manager and a former player. Playing career Pei Encai would spend his youth within the Chinese military where he rose to be a Colonel. While in the army he would show to be promising mid ...

. On 15 July 2014, Ai transferred to

China League One The Chinese Football Association China League (), also known as China League One or Chinese Jia League (中甲联赛), is the second level of professional football in China. Above League One is the Chinese Super League. Prior to the formation of ...

side

, a team formed as a

Phoenix club The Phoenix Building and Cincinnati Club are two historic buildings in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. The membership of these two clubs was chiefly Jewish. Located at 812 Race Street, the Phoenix Building was constructed in 1893, desi ...

to Wuhan Hongjinlong. While Ai joined the club halfway through the season he quickly established himself as a vital member of the team and saw the club miss out on promotion to the Chinese Super League on goal difference. After several seasons with the club Ai was finally able to win promotion with the club when Wuhan Zall won to the

2018 China League One Eighteen or 18 may refer to: * 18 (number), the natural number following 17 and preceding 19 * one of the years 18 BC, AD 18, 1918, 2018 Film, television and entertainment * ''18'' (film), a 1993 Taiwanese experimental film based on the short s ...

division.

Career statistics

''Statistics accurate as of match played 31 December 2020.''

Honours

Club

: 2004 Jiangsu Sainty * Chinese FA Super Cup:

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

References

External links

Player profile
at Sina.com
Player stats
at Sohu.com * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ai, Zhibo 1982 births Living people Chinese footballers Footballers from Wuhan Wuhan Guanggu players Changchun Yatai F.C. players Jiangsu F.C. players Wuhan F.C. players Chinese Super League players China League One players Association football defenders