Zhao Junzhe (; born 19 April 1979) is a retired

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 ...

footballer who predominantly played for Liaoning F.C. in the

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 ...

Club career

Zhao Junzhe was promoted to Liaoning F.C.'s first team from the club's youth academy and made his debut in the 1998 season. He continued to be a vital member for Liaoning that season when he aided them to being runners-up and the

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 ...

. He was soon promoted to club captain and won the

Chinese Football Association The Chinese Football Association (CFA) is the governing body for association football, beach soccer and futsal in People's Republic of China (Mainland China). The CFA organizes the men's and women's national teams and administers the country's ...

Player of the Year award in 2004. The following seasons saw the club's fortunes fall and Zhao unfortunately led the team to relegation to the second tier at the end of the 2008 season. Despite this setback, he remained with the team and immediately led Liaoning back up to the top tier when they won the second tier title in the 2009 season. Zhao announced his retirement from football at the end of the 2016 season. On 30 October 2016, he made last appearance in his career in a league match against

Jiangsu Suning Jiangsu Football Club (), later known as Jiangsu Sainty F.C. (2000–2016) and Jiangsu Suning F.C. (2016–2021), was a professional football club that participated in the Chinese Super League since 2009 until its dissolution in 2021. The tea ...

International career

Zhao was included into the Chinese national team by then manager

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 ...

for the

2002 FIFA World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...

. Though his chances were limited on the national team at the time, he did play in two group stage matches during the tournament and nearly scored by hitting the post against

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 ...

. He played a vital role in the

2004 AFC Asian Cup The 2004 AFC Asian Cup was the 13th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international association football, football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It was held from 17 July to 7 August 2004 in China. ...

in which China finished the tournament as runners-up.

Management career

On 29 September 2017, Zhao was appointed as the caretaker manager of

Liaoning FC 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 ...

, who sat at the bottom of the league table. On 14 October, in his first game as manager, he guided Liaoning to a 3–3 draw against second place team

Shanghai SIPG 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 sta ...

. However, Liaoning finally relegated to the second tier after losing the last three matches of the season. On 12 December 2017, Zhao's caretaker spell ended when Chen Yang became the manager of Liaoning.

Career statistics

Club

International

International goals

:''Results list China's goal tally first.''

Managerial statistics

Honours

Player

Club

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 ...

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 ...

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

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

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

Individual

AFC Asian Cup The AFC Asian Cup is the primary association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), determining the continental champion of Asia. It is the second oldest cont ...

All-Star Team:

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

Player of the Year:

Team of the Year:

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

Personal life

Zhao is of Manchu ethnicity from

Aisin Gioro clan The House of Aisin-Gioro was a Manchu clan that ruled the Later Jin dynasty (1616–1636), the Qing dynasty (1636–1912), and Manchukuo (1932–1945) in the history of China. Under the Ming dynasty, members of the Aisin Gioro clan served as c ...

. He is a descendant of Boolungga, who is the brother of

Giocangga Giocangga (Manchu: ; ; 1526–1583) was the son of Fuman and the paternal grandfather of Nurhaci, the man who unified the Jurchen peoples and founded the Later Jin dynasty of China. Both he and his son Taksi attacked Atai's fort, which was bein ...

References

External links

Profile on China national football team official web siteOfficial blog
* *
2002 China team profile at BBC website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zhao, Junzhe 1979 births Living people Footballers from Shenyang Association football midfielders Chinese footballers China international footballers Chinese football managers 2002 FIFA World Cup players 2004 AFC Asian Cup players Liaoning F.C. players Chinese Super League players China League One players Asian Games medalists in football Footballers at the 1998 Asian Games Manchu sportspeople Asian Games bronze medalists for China Medalists at the 1998 Asian Games