A few days ago, the AFC selected the top ten legendary stars of the AFC Champions League, and Zheng Zhi, who has played for Evergrande for many years, was selected. Zheng Zhizhi was selected into the list of the top ten legendary stars in the AFC Champions League, relying on his consistent eye-catching performance in the position of Evergrande commander. Evergrande was able to win the AFC Champions League for the first time in the 2013 season, and Zheng Zhi also contributed to the team's main defender and captain on the field. It is worth mentioning that Zheng Zhi also won the highest individual award in his career, Mr. Asian Footballer, with this honor.
Zheng Zhi also became the second Chinese player to win the Asian Footballer of the Year after Fan Zhiyi. At the same time, Zheng Zhi also led the Evergrande team to win the AFC Champions League again in the 2015 season. Therefore, Zheng Zhi's eye-catching performance in the AFC Champions League makes him worthy of being a legendary star in the AFC Champions League. Now 44-year-old Zheng Zhi has retired and begun to transform into a coach. Zheng Zhi's outstanding qualifications and abilities have made him highly valued by two national football coaches.
After Jankovic and Ivankovic became the head coach of the national football team, they both directly recruited Zheng Zhi into the national team coaching staff. Zheng Zhi has become an indispensable reinforcement of the national football team for this reason, and his biggest regret when he was a player was that he failed to help the national football team reach the World Cup. Zheng Zhi hopes that his regret can be made up for after transforming into a coach. After the 2026 World Cup qualifiers begin, there will be eight direct qualification spots in the Asian zone.
The expansion of the World Cup is good news for the national football team, and Zheng Zhi is very much looking forward to assisting the old coach Ivankovic to get a place to directly qualify for the World Cup. Of course, if the national football team wants to achieve this goal, it must first ensure that it qualifies for the round of 18. The national football team's home game against Thailand in June is not to be missed for the team.
The national football team must beat Thailand at home to qualify for the round of 18. Zheng Zhi, as the assistant coach of the national football team, has assisted coach Ivankovic to start preparing for this purpose. It is hoped that Ivankovic can qualify for the top 18 as soon as possible with the assistance of the Chinese coaching staff led by Zheng Zhi.