Li Lei (; ; born 30 May 1992) 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 ...

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 currently plays as a left-back for

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 Beijing Guoan and the China national team.

Club career

Li Lei spent his youth career at his hometown team Qingdao Hailifeng and would go on to establish himself as

left midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

before recently promoted side

Nanchang Hengyuan Shanghai Shenxin Football Club () was a professional football club that participated in China's football league system between 2003 and 2019 under licence from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The team was based in Jinshan District, Shangha ...

became interested in him at the end of the 2009 league season where they would promote him to the senior side. He made his professional football league debut at the age of seventeen on April 17, 2010 against

Hangzhou Greentown Zhejiang Professional Football Club (), commonly referred to as Zhejiang FC or simply Zhejiang, is a professional Chinese football club that currently participates in the Chinese Super League under license from the Chinese Football Association (C ...

, however he received a straight red card just ten minutes into his career after fouling Hangzhou player Sun Ji. Despite this setback once his suspension ended he was immediately brought back into the senior side and start the next possible game on May 9, 2010 against Shaanxi Zhongjian. He scored his first goal for

Shanghai Shenxin Shanghai Shenxin Football Club () was a professional football club that participated in China's football league system between 2003 and 2019 under licence from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The team was based in Jinshan District, Shangha ...

in a 2-0 win against Jiangsu Sainty on the 31st October 2010.

Henan Jianye

Li transferred to Henan Jianye on 16 February 2013. He won the

2013 China League One The 2013 China League One is the tenth season of the China League One, the second tier of the Chinese football league pyramid, since its establishment. Teams Team Changes To League One Teams relegated from 2012 Chinese Super League * H ...

title with Henan in his first season and promoted back to the

after a one-year absence.

Beijing Guoan

On 18 January 2015, Li made a move to fellow

side Beijing Guoan. He scored his first goal for Beijing on 21 April 2017 in a 1–1 home draw against

Tianjin Quanjian Tianjin Tianhai F.C. (; ;) was a Chinese football club. The team was based in Tianjin. History 2006-2010: Formation and League Two On June 6, 2006 the Tianjin Binhai Holdings Limited company would form a new football team based in Hohhot called ...

. On 30 November 2018, he won the

2018 Chinese FA Cup Yanjing Beer 2018 Chinese FA Cup (Chinese: 燕京啤酒2018中国足球协会杯) was the 20th edition of the Chinese FA Cup. On 29 December 2017, Yanjing Beer extended their sponsorship contract for another four years (2018–2021). Schedule The ...

with Guoan after a 2-2 away draw (aggregated 3-3 draw, Guoan won on away goals) against

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 ...

, his first trophy with the club and the club's first major trophy in 9 years.

Grasshoppers

On 20 December 2021, Li signed with

Grasshoppers Grasshoppers are a group of insects belonging to the suborder Caelifera. They are among what is possibly the most ancient living group of chewing herbivorous insects, dating back to the early Triassic around 250 million years ago. Grasshop ...

in Switzerland. On 5 February 2022, he made his

Swiss Super League The Swiss Super League (known as the Credit Suisse Super League for sponsorship reasons) is a Swiss professional league in the top tier of the Swiss football league system and has been played in its current format since the 2003–04 season ...

debut in a 3-1 home defeat against

FC Zürich Fussballclub Zürich, commonly abbreviated to FC Zürich or simply FCZ, is a Swiss football club based in Zürich. The club was founded in 1896 and has won the Swiss Super League 13 times and the Swiss Cup 10 times. The most recent titles a ...

. On 28 February 2023, Li terminated his contract with

, despite only having a few more months left of his contract. In his 14 appearances, 13 in the league and one in the cup, he supplied one assist.

Return to Guoan

On 30 March 2023, Li returned to

club Beijing Guoan.

International career

Li made his debut for the Chinese national team in a 1–0 loss against

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

in the

2019 China Cup The 2019 Gree China Cup International Football Championship (Chinese: 2019 年格力中国杯国际足球锦标赛) was the third edition of the China Cup, an international football tournament held in China annually. It took place from 21 to 25 Ma ...

. On 12 December 2023, Li was named in China's squad for the

2023 AFC Asian Cup The 2023 AFC Asian Cup will be the 18th edition of the AFC Asian Cup, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Asia organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It will involve 24 national teams after expansion in 201 ...

in Qatar.

Career statistics

Club statistics

International statistics

Honours

Henan Jianye *

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 ...

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 ...

Beijing Guoan *

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 ...

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 stats
at Sohu.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Li, Lei 1992 births Footballers from Qingdao Living people Chinese men's footballers China men's international footballers Men's association football defenders Shanghai Shenxin F.C. players Henan F.C. players Beijing Guoan F.C. players Grasshopper Club Zürich players Chinese Super League players China League One players Swiss Super League players Chinese expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Switzerland Chinese expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland 2023 AFC Asian Cup players