He is the first Chinese player to stay in the top five european leagues, but also the first Chinese player to be awarded the top scorer of the European League, in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, he scored the first goal in the history of the Chinese men's football Olympics, a few days ago, January 23, 2022 was his 37th birthday, the AFC specially sent him birthday wishes, which shows his high status in Asian football; he is the protagonist of the "Liuyang Series" of this issue of "Football Palms", once the "king" of Chinese football: Dong Fangzhuo.
Dong Fangzhuo
Player profiles
Name: Dong Fangzhuo
Alias: Fangzhuo Dong (English)
Birthday/Age: January 23, 1985 (age 37)
Nationality: Chinese
Place of Birth: Dalian (Liaoning Province)
Position: Striker
Height: 185cm
Weight: 87.6kg
Dominant foot: Right foot
Nickname: Wang Dong, Chinese Dong
Relationships: Zhu Ting (club teammate), Cristiano Ronaldo (club teammate), Rooney (club teammate), Tevez (club teammate), Feng Xiaoting (national team teammate), Chen Tao (national team teammate), Xu Hong (club coach), Ferguson (club coach), Klauchen (national youth coach), Dujkovic (national Olympic team coach)
Youth Team: Dalian Shide (China)
Career trajectory: Dalian Shide (A A), Manchester United (Premier League), Antwerp (Match A/BiB), Manchester United (Premier League), Dalian Shide (Chinese Super League), Legia Warsaw (Polish First Division), Potemonense (Portuguese Super League), Ashtarak mika (ArmeniaN A), Hunan Xiangtao (Chinese First Division), Hebei Zhongji (Predecessor of Hebei Huaxia Happiness)
Main honors: 2006/07 Premier League champion, 07/08 Champions League champion, 10/11 Armenian Cup champion, member of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, the first goal maker in Chinese Olympic history
Technical features
Dong Fangzhuo FM attribute diagram
Through the FM2008 attribute chart, it can be seen that the 23-year-old Dong Fangzhuo already has the potential to grow into an excellent striker, and Dong Fangzhuo has a good numerical display in several key attributes such as speed, technology, dribbling and finishing ability, of course, Dong Fangzhuo also has a certain gap with his teammates of the same age in terms of spiritual attributes, such as Rooney, Tevez and so on; next, we will enter Dong Fangzhuo's football world together.
The wind-chasing teenager in football city
On January 23, 1985, the protagonist of this article, Dong Fangzhuo, was born in Dalian, Liaoning Province, the "Chinese Football City", in this coastal city that has contributed countless famous international footballers, the atmosphere of football is extremely strong, and Dong Fangzhuo in his childhood is naturally also familiar with and immersed in it.
Dong Fangzhuo grew up at a time when Chinese football was professionalized and the national sports system blended, and in the early 1990s, Dong Fangzhuo practiced badminton with his father almost every day, and it was from then on that Dong Fangzhuo became interested in sports as a child.
Got to know football
"The football youth training I remembered as a child was very different from now, when the coach was extremely strict, a detail of the game was not handled well, and it was a crackling fight, such as I shot a wrong shot, the coach called it was a slap," Dong Fangzhuo recalled when recalling his connection with football.
With the growth of age, the innate football talent soon allowed Dong Fangzhuo to show excellence in football, coupled with the national system of "genius under the stick", Dong Fangzhuo gradually practiced solid basic skills and excellent physical fitness, and a football demon star born in the football city is rising.
In 2000, the 15-year-old Dong Fangzhuo joined the Dalian Shide Youth Training Echelon and quickly stood out, in 2002, Dong Fangzhuo's real "Bole" Dalian celebrity Xu Hong saw at a glance that Xiao Dong, who was still playing in the Three Teams of Shide, and brought him to the Dalian Sedron Club, a B promotion team, dong Fangzhuo officially started his professional football journey.
Dong Fangzhuo during the Dalian period
In 2003, the 18-year-old Dong Fangzhuo returned to Dalian Shide for 800,000 yuan, and had a good performance in the A-League and AFC Champions League in the 2003 season, and soon the young Dong Fangzhuo received a trial training invitation from the Premier League giants "Red Devils" Manchester United under the matchmaking of former Shide chairman Xu Ming, and he also became the third Chinese player to enter the Carrington training base after his predecessors Su Maozhen and Wu Chongwen.
The King's Path to the Throne
During the Manchester United trial, the Chinese teenager with a mysterious oriental face shocked Giggs, Ferdinand and other bigwigs with a stunning performance, and even in the confrontation with Xiao Luo, he did not lose the wind, even England's "popular fried chicken" Wayne Rooney was very envious of Dong Fangzhuo's speed and explosiveness.
Train with many of United's biggest stars
In the winter window of 2004, Dong Fangzhuo, who had just passed his 19th birthday, waited for the good news, because of the approval of "Old Lord" Ferguson, Dong Fangzhuo joined the Premier League giants Manchester United club for a record transfer fee of 3.5 million pounds, and from that moment on, Dong Fangzhuo began his european football journey and became the first Chinese player to officially land in the top European league clubs.
At that time, the foreign media knew almost nothing about the unknown Dong Fangzhuo, and Logan Taylor, a professor of football industry at the University of Liverpool, once told reporters: "Manchester United clubs' investment in the training of young players is second to none in the Uk, they will never introduce players they don't need because of expanding into the Asian or Chinese market, although I have not seen Dong play football, I believe alex (Ferguson) will never look at the wrong person." ”
Officially joined Manchester United
Although the young Dong Fangzhuo started his journey to stay abroad as he wished, and the starting point was manchester United, which all Chinese players have so far failed to match, a real problem is still very difficult, due to the strict labor certification system in the United Kingdom, Dong Fangzhuo can only be loaned by Manchester United to play for the satellite club Antwerp in Belgium.
Mr Paul, then president of antwerp, recalled in an interview: "Sir Alex Ferguson personally called me to communicate with dong Fangzhuo's development plan, Ferguson asked us to create as many opportunities as possible for Dong to play, and he also made it clear that Manchester United would recall him back to the club at the right time. ”
During the Antwerp period, he rode alone
Being loaned out by European clubs to train is a common thing for young players, Dong Fangzhuo naturally understands this truth, and what is valuable is that in the face of a completely unfamiliar training environment and living environment, Dong Fangzhuo, who is less than 20 years old, has not shown dissatisfaction in the Belgian league.
During his two and a half seasons in Antwerp, Dong Fangzhuo quickly became the absolute main force in the team's forward position, although Antwerp was unfortunately relegated in the 03/04 season, but this did not affect Dong Fangzhuo's personal performance in the 05/06 season, Dong Fangzhuo scored 18 goals in the second division, and was named the league's top scorer and also became the first Chinese scorer to win the Golden Boot in the Europa League.
Harvest the Golden Boot in the second division
With his stable performance in Belgium and his amazing performance in the annual summer training season with Manchester United, Ferguson's roster book has always recorded Dong Fangzhuo's name; Kung Fu pays off, and on January 17, 2007, Manchester United officially announced that Dong Fangzhuo was qualified to represent Manchester United in the Premier League and signed a formal professional contract with him for a period of three years.
Unlike the previous uproar, when Manchester United recalled Dong Fangzhuo again, there was no longer a voice of doubt in British football, and the commentators of Sky Sports affectionately called him "King Dong", and the nickname of "King Dong" came into being, and the domestic fans and media at that time were looking forward to his soaring in Manchester United after experiencing the precipitation and accumulation of Antwerp.
Goals scored during a summer training match with Manchester United
However, the front attack group of Manchester United at that time can be described as a star-studded gathering, Rooney, Saha, Xiao Xiaoluo, Nani, Tevez, Campbell, and the competition of many powerful players has also seriously compressed Dong Fangzhuo's playing space, of course, gold will always shine, and "Old Lord" does give Dong Fangzhuo the opportunity to shine.
On May 10, 2007, the 34th round of the 06/07 Premier League, Manchester United, who had already won the championship in advance, visited Stamford Bridge to meet Chelsea, and Chinese player Dong Fangzhuo made his debut in the Premier League for Manchester United for the first time and accepted the applause of the "Blues" players, although Ferguson's decision to send Dong Fangzhuo slightly humiliated Chelsea, it was still a historic moment for Chinese football.
Premier League debut
Ben wanted to overcome the heavens and half-sons, how could he be jealous of the talents
Although the domestic media and fans at that time held Dong Fangzhuo high, as mentioned above, the relative lack of spiritual attributes was the biggest stumbling block that hindered Dong Fangzhuo from becoming a world-class star, and the slight arrogance in autism was the biggest impression that Dong Fangzhuo left on foreign media, so behind the nicknames of "Wind Chasing Teenager" and "King Dong", "playing big cards" has also become Dong Fangzhuo's alternative "label".
In the 2005 World Youth Championships, the "super platinum generation" national youth made fans around the world shine, especially Dong Fangzhuo, who participated as a "returnee", was even more eye-catching, but the German veteran coach Clauschen firmly pressed Dong Fangzhuo on the bench to "reflect", because of the lack of training enthusiasm and negative attitude caused by problems such as "injury".
Clauschen
The contradiction broke out in the final stage of the world youth championship 1/8 knockout match between China and Germany, at this time the national youth team was 2-3 behind, the trend has gone, the coach Klau Chen symbolically replaced Dong Fangzhuo when there were 3 minutes away from the game, after the game, Claus Chen went forward to comfort the depressed Little Dong, the young and vigorous Dong Fangzhuo pushed away the German coach, this scene frightened the Associated Press reporter next to him, and the reports about the "Manchester United young master playing a big card" after the game were endless.
However, in many times Dong Fangzhuo's personality is two-sided, in the eyes of coaches and teammates who are relatively close to him, Dong Fangzhuo is lonely or even slightly autistic, and the young and wandering Little Dong has not been able to appear around a figure similar to a teacher or father and brother, and his solitary style of handling also makes it difficult for him to truly integrate into foreign social circles.
It's hard to fully integrate into life in Manchester
A British media report once described that Sun Jihai, a Fellow Chinese countryman, often took Dong Fangzhuo to participate in some football social activities, and hoped that Xiao Dong could make some friends in manchester's local football circle to increase positive information, but Xiao Dong would sit alone in the corner every time and be silent, not communicating with anyone, and the language barrier made his inner loneliness even greater.
The teenagers who once aspired to the four directions envied the geese that flew south
On February 22, 2008, a Manchester United spokesman confirmed that Chinese player Dong Fangzhuo had an unfortunate meniscus and cruciate ligament injury in a reserve team game last week, and was expected to be absent for several months, in order to realize his Olympic dream, Dong Fangzhuo gave up surgery and chose a conservative treatment plan, so he missed the best time to recover.
In the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games China vs New Zealand match, Dong Fangzhuo, who forced his debut with painkillers, was ordered to complete the head-shaking goal with an assist from Chen Tao in the 87th minute, scoring the first Olympic goal in the history of Chinese football while helping the national Olympic team to get the first point in the history of the Olympic Games.
Dong Fangzhuo scored the first goal in the history of the Chinese Olympic Team
After the Olympic Games, the 23-year-old Dong Fangzhuo failed to fully recover from the serious injuries of the meniscus and cruciate ligament for a long time, the aura of the "genius teenager" gradually faded, plagued by knee injuries, Dong Fangzhuo was unable to provide stable output for a long time, Manchester United finally leased him back to Dalian Shide to find a state, and with the expiration of the joint contract with Manchester, Dong Fangzhuo's career also began to crisis.
In early 2010, Polish league club Legia Warsaw announced the signing of free agent Dong Fangzhuo, but the transfer was defined as a commercial transaction by Skoza, the team's manager at the time, and Dong Fangzhuo, who had been sitting on the cold bench for half a season, was completely lost.
Wander the world
In the following two years, Dong Fangzhuo has successively moved to the Portuguese Super League Club of Potemonense and the Armenian League Ashtarakmica Club, where the state of Mika Dongfangzhuo has briefly warmed up, helping the team win the cup championship and enter the Europa League, but the recurrence of the old knee injury has completely extinguished his dream of staying in the ocean.
On January 14, 2012, Dong Fangzhuo signed a contract with Hunan Xiangtao Club in the Chinese League One, officially ending an 8-year overseas wandering career, but with the failure of the 12/13 hunan Xiangtao rush, Dong Fangzhuo once again chose to transfer to Hebei Zhongji (the predecessor of Hebei Huaxia Happiness), and gradually faded out of the media and fans' vision since then.
epilogue
Best wishes
On January 5, 2016, Dong Fangzhuo announced his retirement due to injury, officially ending his 14-year professional football journey; after retiring, Dong Fangzhuo established his own football school to concentrate on digging the hope of Chinese football.
Throughout Dong Fangzhuo's entire career, there is sadness hidden in the glory, and hope is bred in the ups and downs, which just confirms the classic lyrics in the song "Old Boy": "Looking up at the sky full of stars, the one that accompanied me at that time, do you remember the story here", and sincerely wish Dong Fangzhuo a smooth life in the future!
(Lanling TCFB)