Shao Jiayi, one of the "Three Young Men of National Security" who has been abroad for many years, was inducted into the Bundesliga Hall of Fame in 2017 and became a legendary Bundesliga star.
Staying in The Ocean for nearly ten years, relying on the ultimate free kick technique, he has even become the "Chinese Beckham" in the mouth of Munich fans, he is an indispensable player of the Chinese national team, and he is also the Chinese player who has appeared the most in the Bundesliga.
This issue of Sports Observer takes you to know the history of Shao Jiayi, who is known as the "ceiling of foreign players".
Speaking of players who have stayed in the West in recent years and played a certain degree of fame, everyone probably first thought of our ball king Wulei.
The picture above is Wu Lei
Looking at the world football world, there are still very few Chinese players who rely on outstanding strength to compete on foreign courts, and he is such a Chinese local foreign celebrity, relying on excellent left-foot technology, once crowned the title of "Asian Golden Left Foot".
His growth is obvious to all.
Born on April 10, 1980 in Beijing, Shao Jiayi was a native of Beijing and a rising star who was trained in Beijing.
He played his own fame at a young age, and entered the Beijing Junior Team in 1993, and when he was in the Beijing Junior Team, he won the third and fourth places in the National Youth League. It also laid the foundation for him to embark on the path of professional football.
In 1998, at the age of 18, he entered Beijing Guoan and began his career, and it is not an exaggeration to say that he became famous at a young age.
Since joining Beijing Guoan, with his excellent vision and footwork, he has occupied the main starting position in Beijing Guoan as a teenager, and is one of the "three teenagers of Guoan" in the eyes of fans, once becoming a new generation of local idol players.
From 1999 to 2003, he represented Beijing Guoan in many major leagues in China, contributing 14 goals and 12 assists in 59 games, and as the main player of the Guoan team, he also frequently played high-quality free kicks and corners, so he was also selected for the national team. It is precisely because of such achievements that Shao Jiayi has been closely watched by clubs at home and abroad.
When the winter of 2003 came, Beijing opened a cold winter mode, 22-year-old Shao Jiayi was faced with the choice of whether to stay in China or go abroad to fight, and the young fame of Guoan San's youth brought him a lot of heat, and finally when he was young, he chose to go abroad to do a career.
Conquest of the Bundesliga
This winter was extremely hot, as the Bundesliga powerhouse Munich 1860 spent a transfer fee of 1 million euros to recruit Shao Jiayi to his command, and Since then Shao Jiayi has become the second Chinese player to land in the Bundesliga after Yang Chen.
Fans who were not optimistic about his performance in the Bundesliga at first quickly closed their mouths, and it was not long before Shao Jiayi successfully scored with a representative free kick and scored his first goal in the Bundesliga.
Among them, the direct score of a free kick against Cottbus shocked four, and was named one of the top five goals in the Bundesliga of the current round, and his peak also came with this goal.
But the good times were short-lived, and in less than half a year after arriving in the Bundesliga, Shao Jiayi missed nearly half a season due to injury, and Munich 1860 was also relegated to the Bundesliga during that period, and then failed to be promoted back to the Bundesliga with the team for the next two years.
After ending his contract with Munich in 1860, in order to improve his development, he transferred to Cottbus, as the promotion team of the Bundesliga, Shao Jiayi had a greater enterprising belief.
After joining the club, he scored his first goal against Hertha Berlin, his tenth goal in the Bundesliga.
However, in the 2007-2008 season, Shao Jiayi was not reused by the team manager, but the arrival of the new coach brought a glimmer of light to Shao Jiayi, and during the coaching of the new coach Plashnika, he was given the main position.
However, due to his repeated injuries and other reasons, he missed a large number of games, but he could almost play one game, but with a starter tearing the cruciate ligament in his right knee on the field, he later refused the cottbus club's contract extension negotiations.
In a free capacity, he moved again to Bundesliga club Duisburg.
On 27 June 2001, Shao Jiayi started and scored his first goal for the team, while helping the team open the record against Humberjn 07. He then ended his career in German football.
It was another winter, with cold winds and low temperatures sweeping through Germany.
Return to the embrace of the motherland
We have not known whether Shao Jiayi misses the warmth of the motherland or the belief in continuing to pursue the honor of his domestic league career.
During the winter transfer on December 13, 2011, Shao Jiayi and Duisburg team terminated their contract early, ending his nine-year career in Germany. Compared with Yang Chen, the first Chinese player to stay in Germany, he stayed in Germany longer and participated in more games.
The so-called fallen leaves return to the roots, perhaps to thank Beijing Guoan for the grace of knowledge, Shao Jiayi returned to Guoan after returning to China, returned to the team where his career started, and began to compete in major domestic leagues.
Standing on this familiar green field again, my heart is full of emotions, and relying on nearly ten years of training and experience in the German league, Shao Jiayi can be described as a core player in Guoan.
On April 10, 2012, in a match between the Beijing Guoan Reserve and the Shide Reserve, Shao Jiayi helped Guoan win 1-0 with a direct free-kick, which was shao Jiayi's first goal after returning to China.
In the 2014 season, Shao Jiayi played a total of 22 games in the league and scored three goals. In the 29th round of the Chinese Super League on October 26 of the same year, Shao Jiayi, who came off the bench, still relied on his excellent free kick skills to directly score goals and defeated the Chinese Super League powerhouse Guangzhou Evergrande 1:0 away.
As a local player with a pure left-footed skill, his experience in Germany has shaped his current style, and his attitude and spirit have also paved the way for his success.
Although he repeatedly became a substitute late in the season, Shao Jiayi, who came on as a substitute, was still able to score goals repeatedly with his extreme free-kick skills, and the veteran of Beijing Guoan was also rated as "Shao Yi foot" by CCTV commentary.
However, due to the recurrence of injuries and the impact of early injuries, he officially announced his retirement after a game with Guangzhou Evergrande.
On October 31, 2015, Shao Jiayi announced his retirement, ending his 17-year football career, more than half of which was spent in Germany outside the ocean, and the other half was left to us.
Although he failed to achieve good results in the domestic league, he is already the big brother in the national security team, and perhaps without the impact of injuries, Shao Jiayi can continue his peak state and cut through thorns in the Bundesliga.
As a local player, staying in the west to play football is not an easy task, more to pursue their football dreams.
Whenever shao Jiayi's deeds are talked about, different voices can always be heard, and he is known as the Asian golden left foot outside the ocean, and even was inducted into the Bundesliga Hall of Fame in 2017, which has proved its level of strength.
In the domestic league, Shao Jiayi's performance always seems to be a little unsatisfactory, so that he is frustrated with the national team, but can Shao Jiayi, who is recognized by domestic fans and the Bundesliga football circle, achieve far more than today?
Since retiring from the army, Shao Jiayi has served as the sports director of Beijing Guoan Football Club, responsible for competitive training and other work, and recently he was also selected for the third training list of the China U-19 men's football team in 2022 and became a team leader.
As a former professional player, he is tall, has excellent consciousness, one-foot extreme free kick skills, is extremely threatening, has repeatedly scored in domestic and foreign leagues, is good at organization, has a big picture view, and is an excellent offensive player. Although the defensive end of the consciousness is mediocre, and even in the late career period, he was once reduced to a national security substitute, but he can always bring us new surprises.
In that era, going abroad to pursue dreams was already a word of courage, and it also truly showed us the style of Chinese players of an era. Do you like such a player?
This issue of the article ends here, do you think there can be the next "Shao Jiayi" in China? Follow Sports Observer, learn more about sports celebrities, if you like my article, please like me, your support is our driving force for growth.