39 year-old Sun Jihai, the captain of Beijing Renhe FC, officially announced his retirement on December 11th 2016. He is one of the first Chinese footballers ever to play in England and is also a football icon of Chinese players abroad.
Early in his career, he played in the Chinese Football Association(CFA) C League with Dalian Wanda. In 1998, he joined Crystal Palace FC, becoming one of the first footballers to play in England in the history of Chinese football. In 1999, he returned to Dalian Shide FC where he won the CFA C League 4 times,（1996, 1997, 2000, 2001）. As a player for the Chinese national team, he participated in the 2002 FIFA World Cup in Korea/Japan.
In February 2002, Sun Jihai joined Manchester City FC of Football League One for a transfer fee of 2 million pounds and was on their books for 6 years, during which time he helped City gain promotion to the English Premier League(EPL) as champions of League One. He also became the first Chinese footballer to score a goal in the EPL, and ended up with 130 appearances in the league.
After retirement, he will devote himself to his start-up company Haiqiu.
Proofread by Sean O Diobhilin