Sun Wen (; born April 6, 1973) is a Chinese former 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 ...

who played as a forward. She previously captained the China national team and the Atlanta Beat of the

Women's United Soccer Association The Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA) was the world's first women's soccer league in which all the players were paid as professionals. Founded in February 2000, the league began its first season in April 2001 with eight teams in the Un ...

(WUSA). In 2000, she won the FIFA Female Player of the Century along with

Michelle Akers Michelle Anne Akers (formerly Akers-Stahl; born February 1, 1966) is an American former soccer player who starred in the 1991 and 1999 Women's World Cup and 1996 Olympics victories by the United States. At the 1991 World Cup, she won the Golden ...

. Sun won both the Golden Ball (top player) and Golden Boot (top scorer) for her performance at the

1999 FIFA Women's World Cup The 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup was the third edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the world championship for women's national soccer teams. It was hosted as well as won by the United States and took place from June 19 to July 10, 1999, at ...

. She is considered one of the all-time greats of the women's game.

Early life

Sun began playing football around the age of ten. Her father, Sun Zonggao, was a recreational football player who took Sun with him to watch matches in the Chinese men's league. Sun credits him for influencing her foray into the sport. Sun studied Chinese literature at the

University of Shanghai University of Shanghai, also known as Shanghai College and Hujiang University (), was a university established by the American Baptist Missionary Union and the Southern Baptist Convention in Shanghai. It was the predecessor of University of Sh ...

Playing career

Club

Shanghai SVA

Sun played for the Shanghai team in the Chinese women's league.

Atlanta Beat

Sun played for the Atlanta Beat of the

from 2001 to 2002. She was the first overall pick of the WUSA's Inaugural Draft, but a knee and ankle injury limited her first season with the Beat to 13 games with five starts. During the league's semifinal match against the Philadelphia Charge, the Beat were down 2–0, however, Sun scored on a penalty kick and then provided the assist on the equalizer goal with a corner kick headed in by

Cindy Parlow Cynthia Marie Parlow Cone (; born May 8, 1978) is an American soccer executive and president of the United States Soccer Federation. A former professional soccer player, she is a two-time Olympic Gold medalist and 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup ch ...

. The Beat would go on to win the match 3–2. She then notched the Beat's third goal in the Founders Cup helping the team to an eventual 3–3 tie during regulation. The San Jose CyberRays won the title in a penalty kick shootout. During the 2002 season, Sun played in 18 games, making 10 starts. She scored four goals as the Beat earned another chance at the playoffs, but the Beat were eliminated in the semifinals. Sun announced her retirement from the WUSA in January 2003 to return to China in preparation for the 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup.

International

Sun appeared on China's national squad at the age of 17 and went on to appear in four FIFA Women's World Cup tournaments for China and became one of three women to have played all of China's 15 matches in its three World Cup appearances. In 1999, she had 10 goals in her World Cup career, leaving her tied for second place on an all-time scoring list. Sun helped the national team win the Asian Cup in 1991, 1993, 1995 and 1997. Sun led China to a silver medal at the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

Athens, Georgia Athens, officially Athens–Clarke County, is a consolidated city-county and college town in the U.S. state of Georgia. Athens lies about northeast of downtown Atlanta, and is a satellite city of the capital. The University of Georgia, the sta ...

. During the

, Sun scored seven goals and earned the Golden Ball (top player) and Golden Boot (top scorer) at the tournament. She returned to the Chinese women's team from a two-year retirement on December 15, 2005. Due to injury reasons, Sun retired again after winning AFC Women's Asian Cup in 2006.

Matches and goals scored at World Cup and Olympic tournaments

Sun played 28 matches and scored 16 goals in 4 world cup tournaments and 2 Olympics: China 1991, Sweden 1995, Atlanta 1996, USA 1999,

Sydney 2000 The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...

, USA 2003; she played and started every match for China. Sun Wen, with her China teams, won a silver medal at Atlanta 1996 Olympics, and finished second at USA 1999 world cup.

Honors and awards

A strong striker with great skills and passing abilities, Sun won both the Golden Boot (which she shared with Sissi, of

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

) and the Golden Ball for the

1999 Women's World Cup The 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup was the third edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the world championship for List of women's national association football teams, women's national association football, soccer teams. It was hosted as well as ...

, and became the first woman to be nominated for the

Asian Football Confederation The Asian Football Confederation is the governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal in some countries/territories in Asia and Oceania. It has 47 member countries most of which are located in Asia. Australia, formerly i ...

player of the year award. In 2002, she received the FIFA Internet Award in the FIFA Female Player of the Century voting. While the overall award was won by American

, Sun received the most internet votes on the FIFA-website.

International goals

References

Match reports

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sun, Wen 1973 births Living people Footballers from Shanghai Chinese women's footballers Women's association football forwards Atlanta Beat (WUSA) players Washington Freedom players Women's United Soccer Association players Olympic footballers of China China women's international footballers 1991 FIFA Women's World Cup players Footballers at the 1994 Asian Games 1995 FIFA Women's World Cup players Footballers at the 1996 Summer Olympics Footballers at the 1998 Asian Games 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup players Footballers at the 2002 Asian Games 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup players FIFA Century Club Olympic medalists in football Asian Games medalists in football Medalists at the 1994 Asian Games Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1998 Asian Games Medalists at the 2002 Asian Games Asian Games gold medalists for China Asian Games silver medalists for China Olympic silver medalists for China Chinese expatriate women's footballers Chinese expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate women's soccer players in the United States