This is a Chinese name; the family name is Zheng.

Zheng Zhi (simplified Chinese: 郑智; traditional Chinese: 鄭智; pinyin: Zhèng Zhì, born 20 August 1980) is a Chinese footballer who plays for Celtic in the Scottish Premier League. Starting his career as a defender, he now plays in central midfield. Zheng has played 48 games for the Chinese national team, scoring 12 times and he is also the current captain.

[edit] Club career

[edit] China

In 1999, his club Liaoling Chuangye were involved in legal trouble and all assets of the club were frozen, including player transfers rights. After a year without playing professional football, he was transferred to Shenzhen Jianlibao, then coached by Zhu Guanghu, his former coach in the U-23 national team. At Shenzhen he transformed himself in a playmaker, however, he played as a defender under Arie Haan in the national team.

[edit] Charlton Athletic

He joined Charlton Athletic on loan on 29 December 2006 until the end of the season, with Charlton having an option to buy him. He was the first official signing of new manager Alan Pardew, though he had been on trial with the Addicks in November 2006 under previous manager Les Reed. He had scored 29 goals for Shandong Luneng as they won the national league title earlier in the year. Zheng made his Premier League debut against Manchester United at Old Trafford when he replaced the injured Amdy Faye. His first goal came on his first start against Newcastle United in March 2007.^[1]

He returned to his parent club, Shandong Luneng, at the end of the 2006–07 season per the terms of his loan deal. He played once more for Shandong in 2007, in a 6–1 defeat to Beijing Guoan, before he returned to England to join Charlton in a permanent deal in August 2007. He joined for a fee of £2million and signed a two-year contract.^[2] In a March 2008 edition of British football magazine FourFourTwo, Zheng was voted the fifth best player in the Football League.^[3] He scored a total of seven league goals in the Championship season. However, because of the number games he played for both Charlton and the Chinese national team he was less effective in the second half of the season as a result of fatigue.^[4]

In the summer of 2008, Zheng was heavily linked with a transfer to West Bromwich Albion. Although Charlton were in negotiations with the Baggies up to the end of the transfer window,^[5] the transfer failed to materialise.

On 8 July 2009, Zheng left Charlton after failing to agree a new contract with the London club following its relegation to third-tier League One.^[6]

[edit] Celtic

On 1 September 2009 Zheng became the second Chinese player, after Du Wei, to sign for Celtic after penning a two-year contract.^[7] Manager Tony Mowbray affirmed his long held admiration for the player and expressed his delight in the signing.^[8] Zheng is not able to play in Celtic's Europa League group games after UEFA confirmed he was not registered in time.^[9]

He made his debut on 4 October 2009, in the Old Firm derby against Rangers. He was fouled in the box to give Celtic a penalty, scored by Aiden McGeady to make it 2-1 to Rangers. Zheng was substituted for Paddy McCourt after 70 minutes.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] International career

Zheng joined the U-23 national team as the only player from the third division Yi League. Under Bobby Houghton, he mainly appeared at the right back position.

After Zhu Guanghu took over the national team, he appeared in midfield more often.

During France's final warm up match against China on 7 June 2006, he tackled Djibril Cissé, which broke the Frenchman's leg.

Zheng was the captain of the Chinese national team that competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics.^[10]

[edit] Club career stats

Correct as of May 2009

[edit] International goals

Goal	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Competition
1	29 January 2004	Shanghai, China PR	Macedonia	1–0	Friendly
2	7 February 2004	Shenzhen, China PR	Finland	2–1	Friendly
3	17 March 2004	Guangzhou, China PR	Myanmar	2–0	Friendly
4	1 June 2004	Beijing, China PR	Hungary	2–1	Friendly
5	10 July 2004	Hohhot, China PR	United Arab Emirates	2–2	Friendly
6	10 July 2004	Hohhot, China PR	United Arab Emirates	2–2	Friendly
7	17 July 2004	Beijing, China PR	Bahrain	2–2	2004 AFC Asian Cup
8	30 July 2004	Beijing, China PR	Iraq	3–0	2004 AFC Asian Cup
9	30 July 2004	Beijing, China PR	Iraq	3–0	2004 AFC Asian Cup
10	22 June 2005	Guangzhou, China PR	Costa Rica	2–0	Friendly
11	7 June 2006	Saint-Étienne, France	France	1–3	Friendly
12	6 February 2008	Al Ahli, Dubai	Iraq	1–1	2010 FIFA World Cup qualification

[edit] Honours

[edit] Club

• Shenzhen Jianlibao
  • Chinese Super League: 2004

• Shandong Luneng
  • Chinese Super League: 2006
  • FA Cup: 2006

[edit] Country

• China
  • East Asian Football Championship: 2005

[edit] Individual

• Chinese Super League Player of the Year: 2002, 2006
• 2004 AFC Asian Cup All-Star Team

[edit] See also

• China national football team

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Zheng Zhi player profile at cafc.co.uk
• Zheng Zhi career stats at Soccerbase
• Zheng Zhi at celtictalk.org
• Zheng Zhi player profile at celticfc.net

Sporting positions
Preceded by Li Weifeng	China Captain Since 2006	Succeeded by Incumbent
Awards
Preceded by Li Tie	Chinese Football Association Footballer of the Year 2002	Succeeded by Jörg Albertz
Preceded by Branko Jelic	Chinese Football Association Footballer of the Year 2006	Succeeded by Du Zhenyu

China Squad v • d • e China Squad – 2004 AFC Asian Cup Runners Up 1 Liu Yunfei • 3 Sun Xiang • 4 Zhang Yaokun • 5 Zheng Zhi • 6 Shao Jiayi • 7 Sun Jihai • 8 Zheng Bin • 9 Hao Haidong • 11 Li Yi • 12 Wei Xin • 13 Xu Yunlong • 14 Li Weifeng (c) • 15 Zhao Junzhe • 16 Ji Mingyi • 18 Li Xiaopeng • 19 Zhang Shuo • 21 Li Ming • 22 Yan Song • 23 Li Jian • 25 Zhou Haibin • 27 Zhou Ting • 29 Li Jinyu • Coach: Haan v • d • e China Squad – 2007 AFC Asian Cup 1 Li Leilei • 2 Du Wei • 3 Sun Xiang • 4 Zhang Yaokun • 5 Li Weifeng • 6 Shao Jiayi • 7 Sun Jihai • 8 Li Tie • 9 Han Peng • 10 Zheng Zhi (c) • 11 Dong Fangzhuo • 12 Zhao Xuri • 13 Zhang Shuai • 14 Zhu Ting • 15 Wang Dong • 16 Ji Mingyi • 18 Zhou Haibin • 19 Zheng Bin • 20 Mao Jianqing • 21 Wang Peng • 22 Yang Jun • 23 Cao Yang • 30 Zong Lei • Coach: Zhu Guanghu v • d • e China squad – 2008 Summer Olympics 1 Qiu Shengjiong • 2 Tan Wangsong • 3 Feng Xiaoting • 4 Yuan Weiwei • 5 Li Weifeng • 6 Zhou Haibin • 7 Hao Junmin • 8 Zheng Zhi • 9 Gao Lin • 10 Han Peng • 11 Chen Tao • 12 Cui Peng • 13 Shen Longyuan • 14 Wan Houliang • 15 Jiang Ning • 16 Zhao Xuri • 17 Dong Fangzhuo • 18 Liu Zhenli • 19 Dai Lin • 20 Zhu Ting • 21 Lü Jianjun • 22 Zhang Lu • Coach: Yin Tiesheng