An Qi () (born 21 June 1981) 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 ...

former international association football goalkeeper. He represented

Guangzhou Matsunichi Guangzhou Matsunichi Football Club () was a professional football club based in Guangzhou, Guangdong, PR China who last played in the 21,570 capacity Xihe Sports Centre in Shaoguan. The club was established when the youth team for Guangzhou F.C ...

Dalian Shide Dalian Shide was a professional Chinese football club based in Dalian, Liaoning province, China who played in China's football league system between 1955 and 2012. Their home stadiums were the 55,843 capacity Dalian People's Stadium and then lat ...

Dalian Changbo Dalian Changbo F.C. (大连长波足球俱乐部) is a defunct Chinese football club based in Dalian, China. History The club was founded in 2001 as Dalian Sundy and started in the third tier China League Two in 2002, where it achieved third p ...

Xiamen Blue Lions Xiamen Blue Lions Football Club () is a defunct Chinese football club, which was located in Xiamen, Fujian. It was founded in the 1996 league season and their nickname was the "Blue Lions" while they played in the Xiamen Stadium. Throughout their ...

and

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 ...

while internationally he participated for the Chinese national team that took part in the

2002 FIFA World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...

, however he did not feature in any of the games.

Club career

An Qi originally started his senior career with

before he was called up to the Chinese U20 team that took part in the

2001 FIFA World Youth Championship The 2001 FIFA World Youth Championship took place in Argentina between 17 June and 8 July 2001. The 2001 championship was the 13th contested. The tournament took part in six cities, Buenos Aires, Córdoba, Mendoza, Rosario, Salta, and Mar de ...

. After the tournament he was considered one of the most promising young goalkeepers within China and had already drawn the interests of reigning Chinese league champions

where he established himself as their first-choice goalkeeper within the 2002 league season, in time to also be called up to the Chinese football team for the 2002 FIFA World Cup. After several seasons with Dalian Shide, An Qi's position would come into question when on April 9, 2003 the club lost 4-2 to

Al Ain FC Al Ain Football Club ( ar, نادي العين لكرة القدم; transliterated: Nady al-'Ayn) or Al Ain FC or simply Al Ain is a professional football club, based in the city of Al Ain, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. It is one of many spo ...

in a

2002–03 AFC Champions League The 2002–03 AFC Champions League was the twenty-second edition of Asia's premier football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation, and the first edition under the AFC Champions League title. Sixteen teams competed in this ed ...

semi-final match, which saw An Qi have a personally disappointing game. Throughout the rest of the campaign he would have to fight for his position against

Song Zhenyu Song Zhenyu (; Pinyin: ''Sòng Zhènyú'') (born September 21, 1981) is a Chinese former footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Club career Despite being born in Dalian, Liaoning Song Zhenyu would move to Chengdu in the Sichuan province as a boy ...

until the club brought in

Vladimir Petrović Vladimir Petrović ( sr-Cyrl, Владимир Петровић, ; born 1 July 1955) is a Serbian football manager and former player. He is widely known domestically by his nickname Pižon ( sr, Пижон), after the French for ''pigeon''. C ...

as their new manager who decided to drop An Qi from the squad. An Qi went on loan to second-tier side

to help revive his career at the beginning of the 2005 league season, however he had a disastrous competitive debut when his club lost 9-0 to

on March 5, 2005, in the team's opening league game of the campaign. Despite his disappointing start with his new club An Qi kept his place within the team and started to showcase his penalty scoring abilities when he was designated the spot-kick taker in a league game against

Shanghai The 9 Shanghai Zobon F.C. (Simplified Chinese: 上海中邦足球俱乐部) is a defunct football club that predominantly competed in the China League One division. Originally founded by Zhu Jun, the CEO of The9 Limited as an nondescript amateur club, ...

on June 11 in a 1-1 draw. After another spot-kick goal against Changchun Yatai on July 2 in a 2-1 defeat, An Qi was able to play at the highest level of Chinese football once again when top-tier side

decided to sign him and make him their first choice goalkeeper at the beginning of the 2006 season. After two seasons with the team the club would be relegated from the Chinese Super League and decide to disband in a disappointing 2007 league season. Without a club, An Qi moved to reigning league champions Changchun Yatai where he played understudy to

Zong Lei Zong Lei (; born July 26, 1981) is a former Chinese football player. Club career Zong Lei started his football career playing for the Tianjin Teda F.C. youth team before breaking into the senior team during the 2001 league season. While at Ti ...

; however, before he could challenge for the goalkeeper position he suffered a knee ligament break. He went to

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

to receive surgery, causing him to miss the entire 2008 league season. An Qi made his debut for Changchun Yatai in a league game against

Shenzhen Asia Travel Shenzhen Football Club () is a Chinese professional association football, football club that competes in the Chinese Super League. The team is based in Shenzhen, Guangdong and their home stadium is the Shenzhen Universiade Sports Centre that has ...

on 12 September 2009 in a 4–0 defeat.

International career

An Qi was called up to the Chinese U20 team that played in the 2001 FIFA World Youth Championship as the starting goalkeeper for the team, which finished in the last 16. After the tournament the Chinese manager

Bora Milutinović Velibor "Bora" Milutinović ( sr-Cyrl, Велибор Бора Милутиновић; born 7 September 1944) is a Serbian former professional footballer and manager. He has managed at five editions of the FIFA World Cup, tied for the record a ...

decided to hand An Qi his senior debut in a friendly against

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much smaller islands, it is situated south of ...

on August 5, 2001 where he came on as a substitute for

Jiang Jin Jiang Jin (; born October 17, 1968 in Tianjin) is a former Chinese international football goalkeeper. He was the first-choice goalkeeper for China during the 2002 FIFA World Cup. Along with his older brother Jiang Hong he also became a goalkee ...

in a 3-0 victory. After the friendly Bora Milutinović gave An Qi his competitive debut against

Uzbekistan Uzbekistan (, ; uz, Ozbekiston, italic=yes / , ; russian: Узбекистан), officially the Republic of Uzbekistan ( uz, Ozbekiston Respublikasi, italic=yes / ; russian: Республика Узбекистан), is a doubly landlocked cou ...

in a 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification game on September 15, 2001 that China won 2-0. After several further appearances Bora Milutinović decided to include him in the Chinese national squad that played during the

Personal life

On August 14, 2005 An Qi was arrested in suspicion of rape after a night out drinking with his teammates. A woman accused him of rape at his hotel after the police responded to an alarm. After several hours of questioning the police released An Qi after there was a lack of evidence.

Honours

Chinese Jia-A League The National Football Jia A League (simplified Chinese, commonly known as Jia-A, was the highest tier of professional football in the People's Republic of China, during 1994 through 2003, operating under the auspices of the Chinese Football Associ ...

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

Chinese FA Cup The Chinese FA Cup (, abbreviated as CFA Cup) is the national knockout cup competition in China organized by the Chinese Football Association. Its current holders are Shandong Taishan, having beaten Shanghai Port in 2021 for a record seventh titl ...

References

External links

*
Player profiles
at Sodasoccer.com {{DEFAULTSORT:An, Qi 1981 births Living people Association football goalkeepers Chinese footballers Footballers from Dalian China international footballers 2002 FIFA World Cup players Dalian Shide F.C. players Xiamen Blue Lions players Changchun Yatai F.C. players Chinese Super League players China League One players Footballers at the 2002 Asian Games Asian Games competitors for China