Li Yan () (born June 20, 1980) is a former Chinese international

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

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who spent the majority of his career playing for Shanghai Pudong where he won the second tier division title and a runners-up position in the 2003 Chinese Jia-A League season. He also played for New Zealand Knights FC and Hangzhou Greentown before retiring due to injury.

Club career

While Li Yan started his football career at second tier side Shanghai HSBC, it was his move to Shanghai Pudong that saw his football career flourish when he would go on to establish himself as an integral member within the team that would go on to win the second division title and receive promotion to the top tier. He would go on to help establish the team in the top flight and remained with the club when they moved to

Xi'an Xi'an is the list of capitals in China, capital of the Chinese province of Shaanxi. A sub-provincial city on the Guanzhong plain, the city is the third-most populous city in Western China after Chongqing and Chengdu, as well as the most populou ...

and renamed itself Xi'an Chanba International. During this period Li Yan established himself as useful attacking midfielder and caught the eye of New Zealand Knights FC in 2006, however his move was to prove an unsuccessful one and he only played in two league games. Li Yan would return to Xian Chanba International which had renamed itself Shaanxi Baorong Chanba in the 2007 season and stayed with them until the end of the 2009 league season when he transferred to Hangzhou Greentown in 2010. His move to Hangzhou would see him become an immediate regular within the team and he helped guide the club to their best ever finish of fourth within the league as well qualification for the

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

for the first time. Li would, however sustain an ankle injury at the beginning of the 2011 league season and tried to play on until April 19, 2011 in a

2011 AFC Champions League The 2011 AFC Champions League was the 30th edition of the top-level Asian club association football, football tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), and the 9th under the current AFC Champions League title. The winners, ...

group game against Al Ain S.C.C. saw him unable to carry on, which would see him retire soon afterwards.

International career

Li Yan would make his debut in a friendly against

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...

March 29, 2005 in a 1–0 defeat. He would go on to establish himself as a squad regular within the team and score his first goal against Korea DPR in a 2–0 win. Li Yan, however did not make it into the squad that went to the

2007 AFC Asian Cup The 2007 AFC Asian Cup was the 14th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The finals were held from 7 to 29 July 2007. For the first time in its h ...

and after the tournament saw very little international playing time.

Honours

Club

Shanghai Pudong *Chinese Jia-B League: 2001

International

China national football team The China national football team ( zh, s=中国国家足球队, t=中國國家足球隊, p=Zhōngguó guójiā zúqiú duì), recognised as China PR by FIFA, represents China in men's international association football and is governed by the Ch ...

* East Asian Football Championship:

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Li, Yan 1980 births Living people Chinese men's footballers Footballers from Shanghai China men's international footballers 21st-century Chinese sportsmen Beijing Chengfeng F.C. players A-League Men players New Zealand Knights FC players Expatriate men's association footballers in New Zealand Chinese expatriate men's footballers Zhejiang Professional F.C. players Chinese Super League players Men's association football midfielders