Guan Zhen (; born February 6, 1985 in

Tianjin Tianjin (; ; Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Tientsin (), is a municipality and a coastal metropolis in Northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the nine national central cities in Mainland China, with a total popul ...

) is a former

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 ...

professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who last played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

for Shenzhen FC. He is currently the assistant goalkeeping coach at Shenzhen FC.

Club career

Shandong Luneng

Guan would make his senior club debut on March 16, 2003 for

Shandong Luneng Shandong Taishan Football Club () is a professional football club that currently participates in the Chinese Super League under licence from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The team is based in Jinan, Shandong and their home stadium is th ...

in a league game versus

Yunnan Hongta Yunnan Hongta (Simplified () was a football club who played in the Chinese Jia-A League who were founded by the Shenzhen Kinspar Group in 1996 and named Shenzhen Kinspar (Simplified (). The club predominantly played within the lower leagues unti ...

. His appearance was to make him the youngest goalkeeper to ever appear in the top tier in the Chinese league system, however this record was later broken by

Wang Dalei Wang Dalei (, meaning "Great Thunder"; born 10 January 1989) is a Chinese professional footballer who currently plays for Chinese Super League club Shandong Taishan. Club career Despite being only seventeen years old, Wang Dalei started his fo ...

. After his debut he would play 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 ...

and

Deng Xiaofei Deng Xiaofei (; born 31 May 1983) is a Chinese football goalkeeper, who plays for Chinese Super League side Chongqing Lifan. Club career Shandong Luneng A product of the Shandong Luneng youth team he would graduate to the senior team in 2001 ...

for several seasons, however Shandong Luneng would bring in

Li Leilei Li Leilei (; born June 30, 1977 in Beijing) is a former Chinese football goalkeeper and current goalkeeping coach of Beijing Guoan. Club career Li Leilei started his career with second tier club Bayi Football Team in the 1999 Chinese league s ...

in the 2006 league season and Guan was loaned out to Chengdu Wuniu.

Chengdu Wuniu

Guan would join second tier club

Chengdu Wuniu Chengdu Tiancheng F.C. () was a Chinese professional football club based in Chengdu, China who last played in the 26,000 seater Shuangliu Sports Center in the China League One division. The club was founded on 26 February 1996 and was formerly k ...

on loan in 2006 to gain more playing time but failed to make it as their first choice goalkeeper. He would return to Shandong Luneng where he would once more be used as a third choice goalkeeper. Unable to improve upon his position Shandong Luneng were willing to let Guan leave at the end of the 2007 league season.

Jiangsu Sainty

He transferred to second tier club Jiangsu Sainty at the beginning of the 2008 league season and was immediately placed as their first-choice goalkeeper within the team. He played extremely well enough to immediately help the club in their push for promotion to 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 ...

by aiding them to win the 2008 Chinese League One title. The following season Guan's former team mate Deng Xiaofei was brought into the club and for a short period replaced Guan as the team's first choice goalkeeper, however he would eventually go on to win back his place within the team and help establish Jiangsu within the top tier.

Shijiazhuang Ever Bright

In January 2015, Guan transferred to fellow

side

Shijiazhuang Ever Bright Cangzhou Mighty Lions Football Club () is a professional football club that currently participates in the Chinese Super League under licence from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The team is based in Cangzhou, Hebei and their home stadium i ...

. Guan scored his first ever goal in his 100th top-tier match on May 8, 2016, converting a penalty in a 2–1 loss against Shanghai SIPG. Yasen Petrov, manager of Shijiazhuang, expressed that Guan would be the first penalty kicker of the club until he missed. He scored his second penalty on May 22, 2016, in a 1–1 home draw against Beijing Guoan. On June 19, 2016, Guan missed a penalty in a 1–0 victory against Henan Jianye before his teammate

Rúben Micael Rúben Micael Freitas da Ressureição (born 19 August 1986), known as Micael, is a Portuguese former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He totalled 206 Primeira Liga games and 19 goals over ten seasons, representing Nacional, ...

took the other penalty of the match.

Shenzhen FC

On February 8, 2017, Guan 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 Shenzhen FC. He would make his debut appearance on 12 March 2017 against

Dalian Transcendence F.C. Dalian Transcendence Football Club () is a Chinese Association football, football club based in Dalian, Liaoning. Founded in 2013, the club played in the Chinese professional league between 2014 and 2018. They quit from the professional league and ...

in a league game that ended in a 6-0 victory. He would establish himself as a regular within the team and go on to gain promotion with the club at the end of 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 ...

campaign. Guan Zhen retired in December 2020, and joined the backroom staff as an assistant goalkeeping coach.

International career

Guan was the first choice keeper for the Chinese U-20 team before the

2005 FIFA World Youth Championship The 2005 FIFA World Youth Championship was the 15th edition of the FIFA World Youth Championship. It took place in the Netherlands between 10 June and 2 July 2005. Venues Qualification The following 24 teams qualified for the 2005 FIFA Worl ...

that was managed by

Eckhard Krautzun Eckhard Krautzun (born 13 January 1941) is a German football coach and former player. Managerial career As a player, Krautzun turned out for Union Solingen, Rheydter SV, 1. FC Kaiserslautern, Young Fellows Zürich and TeBe Berlin. In 1968, h ...

, however he was ruled out after suffering an injury before the tournament by his own teammate

Wang Yongpo Wang Yongpo (; ; born 19 January 1987) is a Chinese professional footballer who currently plays for Chinese Super League club Shenzhen F.C. Club career Wang Yongpo started his football career in 2004 when he was promoted from Shandong Luneng's ...

. He would go on to be promoted to the Chinese U-23 and was part of the squad that played in the

Football at the 2006 Asian Games Football at the 2006 Asian Games was held in Doha, Qatar from 18 November to 15 December 2006. The opening match was played 14 days prior to the opening ceremony. In this tournament, some 30 teams played in the men's competition, and 8 teams p ...

, however it was only after an impressive start to the 2009 Chinese Super League season with Jiangsu Sainty before Guan would be called up into Gao Hongbo's squad to face

Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan,, pronounced or the Kyrgyz Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the south, and the People's Republic of China to the east. ...

in a 3–0 win on July 25, 2009 where he came on as a substitute for Zeng Cheng. His performance was good enough for him to be tried out in the

2010 East Asian Football Championship The 2010 EAFF East Asian Football Championship was the fourth edition of the tournament which was held between 6 and 14 February 2010. Two preliminary competitions were held during 2009. Participating teams Preliminary Round 1 * * * * Round ...

and then later included in the squad for the

2011 AFC Asian Cup The 2011 AFC Asian Cup was the 15th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The finals were held in Qatar from 7 to 29 January 2011. It was the fifte ...

Career statistics

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

Honours

Club

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 ...

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

Jiangsu Sainty *

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

* 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 ...

Country

China PR national football team *

East Asian Football Championship EAFF E-1 Football Championship, known as the East Asian Football Championship from 2003 to 2010, and the EAFF East Asian Cup for the 2013 and 2015 editions, is a men's international football competition in East Asia for member nations of the Eas ...

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

References

External links

Official Jiangsu Sainty website
* *

at Sodasoccer.com
Player stats
at Sohu.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Guan, Zhen 1985 births Living people Association football goalkeepers Chinese footballers Footballers from Tianjin China international footballers Shandong Taishan F.C. players Chengdu Tiancheng F.C. players Jiangsu F.C. players Cangzhou Mighty Lions F.C. players Shenzhen F.C. players 2011 AFC Asian Cup players Chinese Super League players China League One players Footballers at the 2006 Asian Games Asian Games competitors for China