Li Lei (; ; born 30 May 1992) is a

Chinese Chinese may refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people identified with China, through nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **Han Chinese, East Asian ethnic group native to China. **'' Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic ...

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 lea ...

who currently plays as a

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

for

Chinese Super League The Chinese Football Super League (), commonly known as the Chinese Super League or the CSL (), also known as the China Resources Beverage Chinese Football Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Ch ...

club

Beijing Guoan Beijing Guoan Football Club (), known in AFC competitions as Beijing FC, is a Chinese professional football club based in Beijing, that competes in . Beijing Guoan plays its home matches at the Workers' Stadium, located within Chaoyang Distr ...

and the China national team.

Club career

Li Lei spent his youth career at his hometown team

Qingdao Hailifeng Qingdao Hailifeng F.C. (), previously named Qingdao JVC Zhengyi, Qingdao Benda and Hefei Chuangyi was a former professional association football club in the Chinese Football Association Jia League. The club was engaged in "bribery and private bus ...

and would go on to establish himself as

left midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

before recently promoted side

Nanchang Hengyuan Shanghai Shenxin Football Club () was a professional Association football, 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 Jin ...

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 and currently known as Zhejiang F.C. Greentown () for sponsorship reasons, is a Chinese professional football club based in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, that co ...

, 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 Henan Football Club (), currently known as Henan F.C. Jiuzu Dukang () for sponsorship reasons, is a Chinese professional football club based in Zhengzhou, Henan, that competes in . Henan plays their home matches at the Hanghai Stadium, located wi ...

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 ...

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

. On 17 March 2015, Li made his debut for Guoan in a 2-0 home win against

Urawa Red Diamonds The or simply Urawa Reds (浦和レッズ, ''Urawa Rezzu''), also known as Mitsubishi Urawa Football Club from April 1992 to January 1996, are a professional association football, football club in the city of Saitama (city), Saitama, part of t ...

in the 2015 AFC Champions League group stage. 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 () 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 schedule was as follows. Home Advantage Dec ...

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 Chinese professional football club based in Jinan, Shandong, that competes in . Shandong Taishan plays its home matches at the Jinan Olympic Sports Center Stadium, located within Lixia District. Their c ...

, 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 amongst what are possibly the most ancient living groups of chewing herbivorous insects, dating back to the early Triassic around 250 million years ago. Grassh ...

in Switzerland. On 5 February 2022, he made his

Swiss Super League The Super League (also known as the Credit Suisse Super League for sponsorship reasons) is a professional association football league in Switzerland and the highest level of the Swiss football league system. It has been played in its current fo ...

debut in a 3-1 home defeat against

FC Zürich Fussballclub Zürich, commonly abbreviated to FC Zürich or simply FCZ, is a professional football club based in Zurich, Switzerland. The club was founded in 1896 and has won the Swiss Super League thirteen times and the Swiss Cup ten times. ...

. 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

International career

On 21 March 2019, Li made his debut for the Chinese national team in a 1–0 loss against

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

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 M ...

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

2023 AFC Asian Cup The 2023 AFC Asian Cup was the 18th edition of the AFC Asian Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It involved 24 national teams after its expansion in 20 ...

in Qatar. On 15 December 2025, Li scored his first international goal in a friendly match between Chinese national team and Kuwait national team

Career statistics

Club statistics

International statistics

Honours

Henan Jianye *

China League One The Chinese Football League 1 (), also known as China League One or Chinese Jia League (), is the second level of professional football in China, under the Chinese Super League. The league is under the auspices of the Chinese Football Association ...

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

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. The current holders are Shanghai Port, having beaten Shandong Taishan in 2024 for their first title. H ...

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

Individual *

Team of the Year:

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

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 21st-century Chinese sportsmen Men's association football defenders Qingdao Hailifeng F.C. players Shanghai Shenxin F.C. players Henan F.C. players Beijing Guoan F.C. players Grasshopper Club Zurich 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