Zhang Xiaorui (; born March 5, 1976 in

Tianjin Tianjin (; ; Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Tientsin (), is a municipality and a coastal metropolis in Northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the nine national central cities in Mainland China, with a total popul ...

) 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 ...

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 ...

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

and a former professional player who used to play for

Tianjin Teda Tianjin Jinmen Tiger Football Club is a professional Chinese football club that currently participates in the Chinese Super League under licence from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The team is based in Tianjin, and their home stadium is t ...

Alemannia Aachen Alemannia Aachen () or ATSV Alemannia 1900 is a football in Germany, German football club from the western city of Aachen, North Rhine-Westphalia. A long term fixture of the country's 2. Bundesliga, second division, ''Alemannia'' enjoyed a three- ...

Shanghai Zobon Shanghai Zobon F.C. (Simplified Chinese: 上海中邦足球俱乐部) is a defunct football club that predominantly competed in the China League One division. Originally founded by Zhu Jun, the CEO of The9 Limited as an nondescript amateur club, ...

and

Shanghai Shenhua Shanghai Shenhua F.C. () is a Chinese professional football club that participates in the Chinese Super League under license from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The term ''shen hua'' literally translates as "the Flower of Shanghai" in ...

. His first management assignment was with third-tier club Tianjin Tuanbo New City where he was initially brought in as a

player-manager A player-coach (also playing coach, captain-coach, or player-manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. A player-coach may be a head coach or an assistant coach. They may make changes to the sq ...

before leaving the club at the end of the 2009 Chinese league season.

Club career

Early career

As with all the most promising young Chinese players Zhang Xiaorui would quickly be included in the short-lived Chinese national youth team program to study football abroad in

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 ...

for a five-year training programme sponsored by

Jianlibao Jianlibao Group（健力宝集团） is a soft drink producer based in Foshan, Guangdong, China which was established in 1984. In 1990s, The Jianlibao drink was one of the best sellers in China, on a par with Coca-Cola and Pepsi. However, poor man ...

and called the Chinese Jianlibao Youth Football Team. After graduating through the Jianlibao Youth Team he would move to

Tianjin Teda F.C. Tianjin Jinmen Tiger Football Club is a professional Chinese Association football, football club that currently participates in the Chinese Super League under licence from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The team is based in Tianjin, and t ...

to start his professional football career. He would show his potential when he would quickly establish himself as an integral member of the team and would personally win the Young Player of the Year award at the end of the 1999 league season.

Alemannia Aachen

He would attract the interests of

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

side

and play in the 2. Fußball-Bundesliga during 2001 as part of a loan deal. He, however found it difficult to establish himself within the team and would only make five league appearances before he returned to Tianjin Teda F.C. His return to China however saw his performances fluctuate due to injury the club allowed him to leave at the end of the 2004 league season.

Move to Shanghai

Attempting to resurrect his career he would join

in 2005 where he showed some of the skill and consistency that was missing from his performances. By his next season with the club he had become an integral member of the team (now known as

Shanghai United F.C. Shanghai United F.C (Simplified Chinese: 上海联城足球俱乐部) was a Chinese professional football club based in Shanghai, who last played in the 16,000 seater Yuanshen Sports Centre Stadium in the Chinese Super League. The club was found ...

) and help them to a mid-table finish. The 2007 league season, however saw

merge with the club and Zhang Xiaorui would lose his place within the enlarged squad. In 2008, he was hired to be a

of Chinese Yi League club Tianjin Tuanbo New City, where he would gradually move away from playing before he would officially retire as a player in 2009.

International career

Zhang Xiaorui was part of the Jianlibao Youth and Chinese U-20 team that studied abroad and were fast-tracked by the Chinese Head coach

Qi Wusheng Qi Wusheng (; ; born May 20, 1944 in Weihai) is a Chinese football coach and a former international player. Playing career Despite being born in Shandong, Qi would go on to play for teams within Liaoning before he would be selected for the ...

who included him in the squad in a friendly against

USA The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

on January 29, 1997 in a game that China won 2-1. After making his senior debut he would go on to play for the Chinese U-20 team that took part in the

1997 FIFA World Youth Championship The 1997 FIFA World Youth Championship, known as the 1997 FIFA/Coca-Cola World Youth Championship for sponsorship purposes, was the 11th staging of the FIFA World Youth Championship. It was held from 16 June to 5 July 1997 in Malaysia. It was th ...

and once the tournament finished he was one of several players that would graduate from the Chinese Jianlibao Youth Football Team to the senior team along with

Li Jinyu Li Jinyu (; born 6 July 1977) is a former international player who is currently the head coach of Wuhan F.C., Wuhan. As a player he represented Liaoning Whowin and Shandong Luneng Taishan F.C., Shandong Luneng in the Chinese Super League and ...

Li Tie Li Tie (; born 18 May 1977) is a Chinese professional football coach and former player. As a player he represented Liaoning FC in the Chinese Jia-A League, Everton in the Premier League, Sheffield United in the Football League Championship a ...

and

Sui Dongliang Sui Dongliang (; born September 24, 1977 in Dalian, Liaoning) is a Chinese former professional footballer. He played for Bayi Football Team and Beijing Guoan during his career. Club career Bayi Football Team As with all the most promising youn ...

. He would go on to score his first goal against

Bosnia-Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and Pars pro toto#Geography, often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of Southern Europe, south and southeast Euro ...

in a friendly on March 3, 1997 in a 3-0 win. After playing in several

FIFA World Cup qualification The FIFA World Cup qualification is a competitive match that a national association football team takes in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the (men's) FIFA World Cup. Qualifying tournaments are hel ...

games he was dropped from the team after China did not qualify. After several years out being dropped from international football Zhang Xiaorui would return to the senior team when the new Chinese Head coach

Bora Milutinović Velibor "Bora" Milutinović ( sr-Cyrl, Велибор Бора Милутиновић; born 7 September 1944) is a Serbian former professional footballer and manager. He has managed at five editions of the FIFA World Cup, tied for the record a ...

would include him in the squads that were playing friendlies in preparation for the

2000 AFC Asian Cup The 2000 AFC Asian Cup was the 12th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international association football, football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The finals were held in Lebanon between 12 and 29 O ...

, however once these ended the manager decided not to call him into the squad anymore.

Management career

In 2008 Zhang Xiaorui was hired to be a

of Chinese Yi League club Tianjin Tuanbo New City. In his first season, he would guide the team to a second-place finish in the Southern Group and a place in the play-offs where they were unable to win promotion. He was sacked on 10 March 2010, with

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct language ...

manager

Patrick De Wilde Patrick De Wilde (born 19 April 1964) is a Belgian football manager who works as technical director of Lithuania. Career In 2007, De Wilde was appointed assistant manager of Ukrainian side Metalurh (Donetsk) after managing Eendracht Aalst i ...

taking charge. In November 2010 Zhang would join

Tianjin Runyulong Shenyang Zhongze F.C. () was a former professional Chinese football club that participated in the Chinese League One division. History The club was founded in August 2009 as Tianjin Runyulong and was initially set-up as an amateur football team t ...

as the club's General manager and oversaw the club's takeover of second-tier football club

Anhui Jiufang F.C. Anhui Jiufang Football Club () is a defunct Chinese football club from Hefei, Anhui. The club is owned by Anhui Jiarun Group () with 15,000,000 RMB registered capital. At the end of the 2008 season, Anhui Jiufang qualified from China League Two ...

before leaving the club on January 5, 2012 to return to management with the Tianjin Teda U-19 team.

References

External links

Biography at Sina
(Chinese) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Zhang, Xiaorui 1976 births Living people Association football midfielders Chinese footballers Footballers from Tianjin China international footballers Chinese football managers Tianjin Jinmen Tiger F.C. players Chinese expatriate footballers Alemannia Aachen players Shanghai Shenhua F.C. players Tianjin Tianhai F.C. players