After his successful 22-year football career, former Manchester City Chinese player Sun Jihai has announced his retirement. (Photo : Getty Images)
After his successful 22-year football career, the iconic Chinese player Sun Jihai would now retire. His retirement was announced on the official Weibo account of Beijing Renhe, the Chinese football club where Sun plays as team captain.
Sun started his promising career in 1995 after joining the Dalian Wanda Club. Three years later, he signed for Crystal Palace of England with an outstanding performance.
He has also played in China’s National team many times and participated in the FIFA World Cup in 2002. In the same year, he joined the Manchester City as the club’s first Chinese player.
Manchester City fans quickly noticed his solid defense techniques and dangerous attacking forays. Soon he became a crowd favorite and was voted as the best player for the club that year.
Sun was the first Chinese football player to score in the English Premier League hitting the first goal in a 2-0 win over Birmingham City. In total, he played 130 games for Manchester City.
In Sept. 2015, Sun was appointed as Club Ambassador in China for Manchester City. Just a month later, he was inducted into the Football’s hall of fame at the National Football Museum in Manchester.
Aside from Manchester City, Sun also played for the team Shaanxi Zhongxin, the predecessor of Beijing Renhe Football Club. He led the club winning the championships of China's Super Cub twice.
He played in this team for four years under China's Super League. However this year, Sun was unable to play because of several injuries.
After more than two decades of playing soccer, Sun is now shifting his career to business. He announced his decision to start his own business.
It has been reported that his project for sports videos has earned over ten million yuan in investment from China’s internet giant Tencent.
