Li Yuanyi (; born 28 August 1993) 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 who currently plays for

Shenzhen Shenzhen (; ; ; ), also historically known as Sham Chun, is a major sub-provincial city and one of the special economic zones of China. The city is located on the east bank of the Pearl River estuary on the central coast of southern province ...

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

Li Yuanyi started his football career when he received organized football training at Mingyu Football School, later joining Tianjin Teda's youth academy in 2007. He soon gained a loan spell to

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

side

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

's academy for further training under a cooperation project between Nike and

the Football Association The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the Sports governing body, governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Bailiwick of Guernsey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the ...

in 2010. Afterwards, Li went to Portugal as a part of the

Chinese Football Association The Chinese Football Association (CFA) is the governing body for association football, beach soccer and futsal in People's Republic of China (Mainland China). The CFA organizes the men's and women's national teams and administers the country's ...

's 500.com Stars Project in 2011. He arrived in Portugal on 16 December 2011 and played for Real SC's youth academy alongside

Ruan Yang Ruan Yang ( Chinese: 阮杨; born 13 December 1993 in Hangzhou, China) is a Chinese footballer who plays as a left-footed right winger for Kunshan FC. Club career Ruan Yang started his football career when he joined Hangzhou Greentown's youth ...

. In July 2012, Li transferred to Segunda Divisão side

Casa Pia :''This article refers to the institution. For the child abuse scandal, see Casa Pia child sexual abuse scandal.'' The Casa Pia is a Portuguese institution founded by Maria I, known as ''A Pia'' ("Mary the Pious"), and organized by Police Intendan ...

. He made his debut on 28 October 2012 for the club in a 2-1 loss against

Oriental Lisboa Clube Oriental de Lisboa is a Portuguese football club based in Lisbon. Founded in 1946, it currently competes in the Campeonato de Portugal, holding home games at ''Campo Engenheiro Carlos Salema'', with an 8,500 capacity. History Clube Orient ...

, coming on as a substitute for André Oliveira in the 34th minute; however, he was sent off after receiving two successive yellow cards in the 56th and 58th minute in his debut match. He gradually became a starter within the team and scored his first goal for the club on 13 January 2013 in a 1-1 draw against

A.D. Carregado Associação Desportiva do Carregado, commonly known as just Carregado, is a Portugal, Portuguese Association football, football club based in Carregado, a parish of Alenquer Municipality, Portugal, Alenquer, Lisbon. Founded in 1950, it currently ...

. He made 15 league appearances and scored four goals in the 2012-13 season. On 23 August 2013, Li transferred to another Segunda Divisão club Boavista on a free transfer. However, his former club Tianjin claimed that Li was still under the contract with Tianjin and refused to acknowledge the transfer, but the dispute was quickly resolved. He made his debut for the club on 15 September 2013 in a 1-0 win against S.C. Coimbrões, coming on as a substitute for João Beirão in the 82nd minute. He scored his first goal for the club on 6 October 2013 in a 2-0 win against F.C. Perafita. On 7 August 2014, after Boavista returned to the

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (; English: Premier League, also written as Liga Portugal 1), also known as Liga Portugal Bwin for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga Portugal, ...

, Li was loaned out to Segunda Liga side

Leixões The Port of Leixões ( pt, Porto de Leixões, ) is one of Portugal's major seaports, located 4 km north of the mouth of the Douro River, in Matosinhos municipality, near the city of Porto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city i ...

. He made his debut for the club on 13 September 2014 in a 2-1 win against

C.D. Aves Clube Desportivo das Aves (), commonly known as Desportivo das Aves, or simply as Aves, is a Portuguese professional football club based in Vila das Aves, Santo Tirso. The club was founded on 12 November 1930 and plays at the Estádio do Clube ...

, coming on as a substitute for Leandro Augusto in the 70th minute. He extended his loan deal with Leixões for one season on 6 July 2015. On 16 July 2015, Li transferred to

side Guangzhou Evergrande; however, he remained with Leixões to fulfill his loan deal before joining Guangzhou in December 2015. He made his debut for the club on 19 April 2016 in a 2-0 win against

Pohang Steelers The Pohang Steelers (Hangul: 포항 스틸러스) are a South Korean professional football club based in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province that compete in the K League 1, the top flight of South Korean football. The Steelers were founded on 1 A ...

in the

2015 AFC Champions League The 2015 AFC Champions League was the 34th edition of Asia's premier club football tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), and the 13th under the current AFC Champions League title. Guangzhou Evergrande won the tournament ...

, coming on as a substitute for

Ricardo Goulart Ricardo Goulart Pereira, known as Ricardo Goulart (; born 5 June 1991), is a professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for Bahia. Goulart started his career with Santo André in 2009, and remained at the club until 2011, wit ...

in the 53rd minute. On 15 July 2016, Li was loaned to fellow top tier side Tianjin Teda until 31 December 2016. He made his debut and scored his first goal for the club on 23 July 2016 in a 3-1 loss to

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 ...

. In February 2017, Li permanently transferred to Tianjin Teda. On 27 February 2019, Li transferred to fellow top tier side

. He would go on to make his debut for Shenzhen in a league game against

Hebei China Fortune F.C. Hebei Football Club () is a professional Chinese football club that participates in the Chinese Super League division under licence from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The team is based in Langfang, Hebei and their home stadium is the L ...

on the 2 March 2019 in a 3-1 victory.

Career statistics

Honours

Club

Guangzhou Evergrande * Chinese FA Super Cup:

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Li, Yuanyi 1993 births Living people Chinese footballers Footballers from Sichuan People from Deyang Association football midfielders Liga Portugal 2 players Chinese Super League players Leixões S.C. players Boavista F.C. players Guangzhou F.C. players Tianjin Jinmen Tiger F.C. players Shenzhen F.C. players Chinese expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Portugal Chinese expatriate sportspeople in Portugal