In the history of Asian football, only two Chinese players have ever claimed the title of AFC Player of the Year—Fan Zhiyi in 2001 and Zheng Zhi in 2013. Others, like Li Weifeng and Deng Zhuoxiang, made it to the nomination list but ultimately fell short. Their journeys reveal a recurring issue: when compared with Asia’s top-tier players, Chinese candidates often share the same critical weakness.
Among them, Fan Zhiyi stands out as perhaps the most influential Chinese footballer since the sport’s professionalization in China. In 1995, he was moved from defense to attack by coach Xu Genbao, scoring 15 goals that season for Shanghai Shenhua and becoming the top scorer in the Jia-A League. In 1998, Fan moved to Crystal Palace in the English Championship and quickly established himself as a key starter. By 2000, he was named captain of the Chinese national team under coach Bora Milutinović and led the defense as China qualified for the World Cup for the first time.
His dual success in both club and national team play earned him the 2001 AFC Player of the Year award, making him the first Chinese player to win this honor. But for many years following that milestone, no Chinese name appeared on the shortlist again—a reflection of what was arguably the darkest era of Chinese football. It wasn’t until 2009 that Li Weifeng made it into the top 15 nominees. That year, he moved from Wuhan Guanggu to K League side Suwon Samsung, where he shined as a central defender and helped the club win the Korean FA Cup.
However, while Li’s club performance was stellar, he didn’t make any national team appearances that year. China failed to qualify for the final round of the World Cup Asian qualifiers, and Li also missed the Asian Cup qualifiers. As a result, he didn’t make the final five-man shortlist. In 2010, he was nominated again based on his consistent performances in the K League and the AFC Champions League, where Suwon reached the quarterfinals. But his absence from national team duty continued to undermine his chances.
Li himself once said in an interview, “I’m always ready—I hope to wear the national team jersey again someday.” But readiness wasn’t enough. Without balanced contributions at both club and country levels, his bids for the top honor faltered. Deng Zhuoxiang faced a similar outcome in 2011. Though he made the top 15, he was cut before the final 10 were announced.
Then came 2013. Twelve years after Fan Zhiyi’s triumph, Zheng Zhi emerged as Asia’s best. At 33, he beat out Ha Dae-sung and Javad Nekounam to win the AFC Player of the Year award. That season, as captain of Guangzhou Evergrande, Zheng led the team to their third straight Chinese Super League title and a historic AFC Champions League win over FC Seoul.
Zheng also played 11 matches for the national team that year, including five Asian Cup qualifiers, three East Asian Cup matches, and three friendlies. Impressively, he started all 11 games. China’s performance in the East Asian Cup stood out—they drew with both South Korea and Japan and capped it off with a thrilling 4-3 win over Australia.
It was a textbook example of the “barrel theory” in action: club excellence combined with solid national team representation gave Zheng a well-rounded case. Crickex Login analysis of his full-season impact shows that neither club nor country play dragged down his value. Instead, they reinforced each other—paving the way for him to be crowned 2013 AFC Player of the Year.