Zhang Linpeng (; born 9 May 1989) 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 ...

professional footballer who currently plays for

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 association ...

club Shanghai Port. Zhang is known by the nickname Zhangmos for his similarity in looks and playing style as Sergio Ramos. An offensive minded defender, Zhang is also known for his tackling ability and aerial game. He was highly praised by Italian manager Marcello Lippi who described him as "the best Chinese footballer in the Chinese Super League".

Club career

Zhang Linpeng would play as a youngster for the

Genbao Football Academy Genbao Football Base (Simplified Chinese: 上海根宝足球基地) is the training ground of Shanghai Port F.C. and home to its youth academy. Located in Chongming County, Shanghai, China, the base is named after its founder and owner, Xu Genb ...

before he graduated to the

Shanghai East Asia Shanghai Port FC (), previously named Shanghai SIPG, is a professional football club that participates in the Chinese Super League under licence from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The team is based in Pudong, Shanghai, and their home st ...

's first team at the beginning of the 2006 league season. With the club in the third tier, Zhang quickly made an impression within the team when he was part of the squad that won promotion to the second tier at the end of the 2007 league season. Within the second tier, Zhang played a major part in ensuring the club remained in the division and by the 2009 season, the club finished fourth and just missed out on promotion. His performance for his club then saw him receive an unexpected call-up to the Chinese national team where he impressed many by scoring on his debut against

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

. This then saw Zhang become the most sought after player in China before he transferred to

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 ...

for a fee of ¥12 million in November 2010. He made his debut for the club on 2 April 2011 in a 1–0 win against

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 late ...

. Throughout the season, Zhang was used as a squad player as Guangzhou won their first ever league title at the end of the 2012 season. He soon established himself as a mainstay in the team's backline during the 2013 season, leading the club to a third straight league title as well as an AFC Champions League title, the first in the club's history. During preseason before the 2015 season, Zhang sustained a medial accessory ligament tear on his left knee joint on 7 February 2015 in a friendly match against Hangzhou Greentown. While recovering from his surgery in Italy, Zhang was linked with

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Cop ...

side

Inter Milan Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Inter is ...

with manager

Roberto Mancini Roberto Mancini (; born 27 November 1964) is an Italian football manager and former player. He is currently the manager of the Italy national team. As a player, Mancini operated as a deep-lying forward, and was best known for his time at Sa ...

also confirming his interest in Zhang. However, Guangzhou insisted that Zhang was worth €10 million which far exceeded what Inter was willing to pay. After recovering from injury, Zhang came on as a substitute and scored a goal on 3 April 2015 in a 2–1 loss against

Henan Jianye Henan Songshan Longmen Football Club (), previously known as Henan Jianye Football Club (), is a professional football club that currently participates in the Chinese Super League under licence from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The team ...

. He then went on to score a 60-meter goal on 12 April 2015 in a 6–1 win against

Liaoning Whowin Liaoning Football Club (), officially known as Liaoning Hongyun (), was a professional association football club with a long history in Chinese football. The club can predate their formation to 1953, when Shenyang government sports body joined ex ...

. On 28 May 2015, he suffered a reoccurrence of a left knee strain on 27 May 2015 in a 2–0 win against

Seongnam FC Seongnam () is the fourth largest city in South Korea's Gyeonggi Province after Suwon and the 10th largest city in the country. Its population is approximately one million. Seongnam is a satellite city of Seoul. It is largely a residential city ...

. On 20 July 2015, Zhang extended his contract with Guangzhou until 31 December 2020. Zhang returned from injury on 12 August 2015 in a 1–0 win against Jiangsu Sainty. On 28 August 2015,

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

side

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

made an offer to Guangzhou for Zhang, hoping to complete the transfer before the summer transfer window closed; however, the deal couldn't be completed due to limited time while the two clubs failed to agree on certain terms during negotiations. On 29 April 2022, Zhang returned to Shanghai Port.

International career

Zhang quickly worked his way up through the various Chinese youth teams, first by playing for the Chinese under-20 national team in the

2008 AFC U-19 Championship The 2008 AFC U-19 Championship the 35th edition of this tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), was hosted by Saudi Arabia between 31 October and 14 November. The matches were played in Dammam and Khobar, both located at ...

where he captained the team to the quarter-finals. This saw him promoted to the Chinese under-23 national team to play in the

2009 East Asian Games ) , Host city = Hong Kong , Teams participating = 9 , Athletes participating = 2,377 , Events = 262 events in 22 sports , Opening ceremony = December 5, 2009 , Closing ceremony = December 13, 2009 , Officially opened by = State Councilor ...

where China disappointingly were knocked out in the group stage. Despite the under-23 national team's failures, Zhang's performances were considered good enough for then manager

Gao Hongbo Gao Hongbo (; born January 25, 1966 in Beijing) is a retired Chinese football striker and head coach of China League One side Beijing Enterprises. He previously managed the China national football team from 2009 to 2011, and in 2016. Appoint ...

to unexpectedly call him up to the national team even though he was playing for a second-tier side. He made an impressive international debut on 30 December 2009 in a 2–2 draw against

, scoring on his debut as well. After his debut, Zhang was called up to the squad that won the

2010 East Asian Football Championship The 2010 EAFF East Asian Football Championship was the fourth edition of the tournament which was held between 6 and 14 February 2010. Two preliminary competitions were held during 2009. Participating teams Preliminary Round 1 * * * * Round ...

before establishing himself as a regular for the team that took part in the 2011 AFC Asian Cup.

Personal life

Zhang is of

Hui The Hui people ( zh, c=, p=Huízú, w=Hui2-tsu2, Xiao'erjing: , dng, Хуэйзў, ) are an East Asian ethnoreligious group predominantly composed of Chinese-speaking adherents of Islam. They are distributed throughout China, mainly in the n ...

ethnicity and is a Muslim. He married his girlfriend Wang Qiaozhi on 21 May 2011 and their son was born on 1 September 2014.

Career statistics

Club statistics

International statistics

International goals

:''Scores and results list China's goal tally first.''

Honours

Club

China League Two The Chinese Football Association Division Two League (Simplified Chinese: 中国足球协会乙级联赛), or China League Two, is the third tier league of the People's Republic of China. The league is under the auspices of the Chinese Football As ...

: 2007

: 2011,

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

, 2015,

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...

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 ...

* AFC Champions League:

, 2015 *

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 tit ...

Chinese FA Super Cup The Chinese FA Super Cup (), formerly named Chinese Football Super Cup (), is a pre-season football competition held before the season begins in China. It is a Chinese football championship contested by the winners of top division of Profession ...

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the Unit ...

International

China PR national football team China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones ...

* East Asian Football Championship: 2010

Individual

Team of the Year:

, 2015,

* AFC Champions League Dream Team:

, 2015

Notes

References

External links

* *
Biography
at hudong.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Zhang, Linpeng 1989 births Living people Sportspeople from Jinan Hui sportspeople Chinese Muslims Chinese footballers Footballers from Shandong China international footballers Shanghai Port F.C. players Guangzhou F.C. players Chinese Super League players China League One players China League Two players 2011 AFC Asian Cup players 2015 AFC Asian Cup players 2019 AFC Asian Cup players Footballers at the 2010 Asian Games Association football defenders Asian Games competitors for China