Zou Yougen (

Simplified Chinese Simplification, Simplify, or Simplified may refer to: Mathematics Simplification is the process of replacing a mathematical expression by an equivalent one, that is simpler (usually shorter), for example * Simplification of algebraic expressions, ...

: 邹侑根; born 25 February 1975) is a former

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 ...

international

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

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 ...

, who represented

Sichuan Quanxing Sichuan First City () is a defunct Chinese football club, which was located in Chengdu, Sichuan where they played in the Chengdu Sports Centre. They were founded in 1953 and spent a large part of their history within the top tier of Chinese footb ...

, Xiamen Bluelion and Chengdu Blades where he achieved the distinction for being the first player to ever make over 300 appearances at the highest level of Chinese football as well as holding the record for the most appearances in the top flight of any professional Chinese footballer at the time.

Club career

Zou Yougen grew up in

Chengdu Chengdu (, ; Simplified Chinese characters, simplified Chinese: 成都; pinyin: ''Chéngdū''; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: ), Chinese postal romanization, alternatively Romanization of Chi ...

Sichuan Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of the ...

where he joined the Sichuan Youth team. He was drafted into the senior side during the 1994 league season. This was the first season where the entire football league became fully professional and Zou quickly adapted to the higher demands of the league where, in his debut season, he made eight appearances and scored two goals. Because of his ability to play in several midfield positions, particularly within left-midfield, he quickly moved up from a squad regular to a vital member of the team by the 1996 league season at

. With Sichuan he stayed with them throughout their highs and lows until the club disbanded before the start of the 2006 league season. Without a club Zou joined recently promoted club Xiamen Bluelion who still had to buy his contract for 2 million

RMB The renminbi (; symbol: ¥; ISO code: CNY; abbreviation: RMB) is the official currency of the People's Republic of China and one of the world's most traded currencies, ranking as the fifth most traded currency in the world as of April 2022. ...

. With Xiamen he experienced a resurgence in his career and went on to score 10 league goals in his first season with Xiamen. The following season he could not prevent Xiamen from being relegated and he left for another promoted side Chengdu Blades as well as returning to his hometown of Chengdu. It was at this club that Zou played in his 300th league game and achieved being the most capped player in Chinese football to play in the top flight when he played a league game against Henan Construction on November 2, 2008 in a 0-0 draw. While Zou continued to add to his record, his time playing at the top flight ended when Chengdu Blades were relegated for match-fixing before the start of 2010 league season, Zou decided to stay loyal and remained with the club. Zou would only play a small part in the team's promotion and decide to retire with team mate

Yao Xia Yao Xia (Simplified Chinese: 姚夏; Pinyin: ''Yáo Xià'') (born 28 January 1974) is a Chinese football coach and a former international footballer who played as an attacking midfielder or striker. As a youngster he would make a name for himsel ...

at the end of the season.

References

External links

*
Zou's News at SINA (Chinese)
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Zou, Yougen 1975 births Living people Sportspeople from Chengdu Chinese men's footballers Footballers from Sichuan China men's international footballers Sichuan First City F.C. players Xiamen Blue Lions players Chengdu Tiancheng F.C. players Chinese Super League players China League One players Men's association football midfielders 21st-century Chinese people

Club career

See also

References

External links