Zhai Yanpeng (; born December 6, 1982) is a former Chinese football player who played for

Bayi Football Team The Bayi or August First Football Team () or its full name the People's Liberation Army Bayi Football Club () was a football team under the sport branch of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) that played in China's football league system between 1 ...

and

Dalian Shide Dalian Shide was a professional Chinese football club based in Dalian, Liaoning province, China who played in China's football league system between 1955 and 2012. Their home stadiums were the 55,843 capacity Dalian People's Stadium and then lat ...

as a versatile defender and midfielder. After winning the Chinese league and Cup with Dalian Shide, he was soon called up to the Chinese national team in 2007; however, in early 2008 he was forced to end his career as a professional footballer at the age of 26, due to being diagnosed with

cerebral infarction A cerebral infarction is the pathologic process that results in an area of necrotic tissue in the brain (cerebral infarct). It is caused by disrupted blood supply ( ischemia) and restricted oxygen supply ( hypoxia), most commonly due to thromboemb ...

Club career

Bayi Football Team

Zhai Yanpeng began his football career in 1993 playing for the

youth and reserve teams before graduating to their senior team in 2001. In his first season, he quickly established himself as a versatile footballer and quickly became a first team regular when he played in 23 league games. For the next two seasons he was an integral member of the Bayi team until they disbanded in 2003 and were removed from the top tier.

Dalian Shide

Zhai Yanpeng moved to another top tier team in Dalian Shide, where he was predominantly used as a left-back in his first season and while he took time to settle in his new team, by the 2005 league season Zhai had established himself as an important member of the team when he helped them win the league and cup double. He was an integral part of the Dalian team for several seasons until his condition saw him having to retire during 2008 when he was diagnosed with

International career

The Chinese head coach

Zhu Guanghu Zhu Guanghu (; born September 25, 1949 in Shanghai, China) is a Chinese football coach and a former player. As a player, he was predominantly remembered for his time at Shanghai Football Team before going into management where he started off ...

gave Zhai Yanpeng his debut on March 27, 2007, in a friendly game against

Uzbekistan Uzbekistan (, ; uz, Ozbekiston, italic=yes / , ; russian: Узбекистан), officially the Republic of Uzbekistan ( uz, Ozbekiston Respublikasi, italic=yes / ; russian: Республика Узбекистан), is a doubly landlocked cou ...

in a 3–1 victory in preparation for the

2007 AFC Asian Cup The 2007 AFC Asian Cup was the 14th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The finals were held from 7 to 29 July 2007. For the first time in its h ...

and used Zhai Yanpeng as a defensive midfielder. Unable to make the squad for the Asian Cup, he was still highly regarded by the new Chinese Head coach

Vladimir Petrović Vladimir Petrović ( sr-Cyrl, Владимир Петровић, ; born 1 July 1955) is a Serbian football manager and former player. He is widely known domestically by his nickname Pižon ( sr, Пижон), after the French for ''pigeon''. C ...

to play in several friendlies until his condition forced him to retire.

Honours

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 ...

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

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 ...

References

External links

*
Player info at sina.com
1982 births Living people Sportspeople from Baoding Chinese footballers Footballers from Hebei China international footballers Association football fullbacks Bayi Football Team players Dalian Shide F.C. players {{PRChina-footy-bio-stub