Zhang Jiaqi (; ; born 9 December 1991) is a Chinese 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 le ...

who plays as a

defensive 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 ...

for

Zhejiang Zhejiang ( or , ; , also romanized as Chekiang) is an eastern, coastal province of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Hangzhou, and other notable cities include Ningbo and Wenzhou. Zhejiang is bordered by Jiang ...

and the China national team.

Club career

Zhang Jiaqi started his football career playing for

Le Mans Le Mans (, ) is a city in northwestern France on the Sarthe River where it meets the Huisne. Traditionally the capital of the province of Maine, it is now the capital of the Sarthe department and the seat of the Roman Catholic diocese of Le Man ...

' youth academy. He played for their reserve team before being promoted to the first team in 2012. Zhang made his debut for the club on 8 February 2013 in a 1–1 draw against

Clermont Foot Clermont Foot 63 (Occitan language, Occitan: ''Clarmont d'Auvèrnhe''; commonly referred to as Clermont Foot or simply Clermont) is a Football in France, French association football club based in Clermont-Ferrand. The first incarnation of the c ...

. After starting three consecutive games, Zhang scored his first goal on 22 February 2013 in a 3–2 win against

Niort Niort (; Poitevin: ''Niàu''; oc, Niòrt; la, Novioritum) is a commune in the Deux-Sèvres department, western France. It is the prefecture of Deux-Sèvres. The population of Niort is 58,707 (2017) and more than 177,000 people live in the u ...

which turned out to be the match winner. Zhang became a mainstay in the team's starting eleven for the rest of the season; however, Le Mans was relegated to the third tier on the last day of the 2012–13 season. In November 2013,

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 ...

side

FC Sion Football Club de Sion, commonly known as simply FC Sion or Sion, is a Swiss football team from the city of Sion. The club was founded in 1909, and play their home matches at the Stade Tourbillon. They have won the Swiss Super League twice, and ...

announced Zhang had signed a contract with the club after Le Mans lost its professional status; however, Zhang could not register for the club because they had already reached the maximum 25 players allowed in the squad. On 27 February 2014, Zhang was signed by top tier side

Dalian Aerbin Dalian Professional Football Club () is a professional Chinese football club based in Dalian, Liaoning, that participates in the China Super League under licence from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). Their home stadium is Dalian Sports Ce ...

on a free transfer. He made his debut for the club on 30 April 2014 in a 1–1 draw against

Guizhou Renhe Beijing Chengfeng Football Club () was a professional Chinese football club that last participated in the Chinese League One under licence from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The team was based in Fengtai District, Beijing and their h ...

. On 24 December 2014, Zhang transferred to fellow

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 ...

side

Guangzhou Evergrande Guangzhou Football Club, formerly known as Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao Football Club, is a professional Chinese football club that participates in the Chinese Super League under the license of the Chinese Football Association. The team is based ...

after Dalian was relegated at the end of the 2014 season. He was used as a rotation player at the beginning of 2015 season; however, he didn't appear for Guangzhou after

Luiz Felipe Scolari Luiz Felipe Scolari (; born 9 November 1948), also known as Felipão ("Big Phil"), is a Brazilian football manager and former player. He is the current manager of Athletico Paranaense. Scolari was a defender during his playing days, and notab ...

became the manager of the club in June 2015. Zhang was downgraded to the reserve squad in the 2016 season. On 15 July 2016, he was loaned to

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 ...

side

Qingdao Huanghai Qingdao Football Club () was a professional Chinese football club that participated in the Chinese Super League under licence from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The team was based in Qingdao and their home stadium was the Qingdao Gu ...

for the rest of the 2016 season. He made his debut for the club on 16 July 2016 in a 1–1 draw against

Meizhou Hakka Meizhou Hakka Football Club (; Hakka language: Mòi-Chû Hag-Ga chuk-khiù khî-lo̍k-phu) is a professional Chinese football club that currently participates in the Chinese Super League under license from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). ...

. On 23 January 2017, Zhang was loaned to second tier side

Shenzhen FC Shenzhen Football Club () is a Chinese professional football club that competes in the Chinese Super League. The team is based in Shenzhen, Guangdong and their home stadium is the Shenzhen Universiade Sports Centre that has a seating capacity of ...

for the 2017 season. In February 2018, he was loaned to Guangzhou Evergrande's city rivals

Guangzhou R&F Guangzhou City Football Club (广州城) is a Chinese professional football club that competes in the Chinese Super League under licence from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The team is based in Guangzhou, Guangdong, and their home venu ...

for the 2018 season. Failing to establish himself within the team, Zhang appeared just one league match and two FA Cup matches for Guangzhou R&F. Zhang was loaned to Qingdao Huanghai for the second time for one season in February 2019. On 25 May 2020, Zhang transferred to

side

Sichuan Jiuniu Sichuan Jiuniu Football Club (Simplified Chinese: 四川九牛足球俱乐部) is a professional Chinese football club that currently participates in the China League One division under licence from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The te ...

. On 16 April 2020, Zhang transferred to

side

, the second time he joined the club managed by

Jordi Vinyals Jordi Vinyals Martori (born 24 November 1963 in Cardedeu, Province of Barcelona, Catalonia) is a Spanish former footballer who played as a midfielder, currently manager of Chinese Super League The Chinese Football Association Super League, co ...

International career

Zhang made his China national team debut on 18 June 2014, in their 2–0 win against Macedonia.

Career statistics

Club

International statistics

Honours

Guangzhou Evergrande *

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

AFC Champions League The AFC Champions League (abbreviated as ACL) is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation, and contested by Asia's top-division football clubs. It is the most prestigious club competition ...

Qingdao Huanghai *

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Zhang, Jiaqi Living people 1991 births Footballers from Shenyang Chinese men's footballers Men's association football midfielders China men's international footballers Le Mans FC players FC Sion players Dalian Professional F.C. players Guangzhou F.C. players Qingdao F.C. players Shenzhen F.C. players Guangzhou City F.C. players Sichuan Jiuniu F.C. players Ligue 2 players Swiss Super League players Chinese Super League players China League One players Chinese expatriate men's footballers Chinese expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate men's footballers in France Expatriate men's footballers in Switzerland