Sun Jihai

Sun Jihai holds a special place in my view of Asian football history. When he scored for Manchester City in 2002, he became the first East Asian player to find the net in the Premier League, a milestone that meant far more than a single goal. I think of the nerve it took for a defender from Dalian to plant himself in English football at a time when Chinese players were still doubted abroad. He was a pioneer who carried himself with quiet authority on both ends of the pitch. The path he opened for younger East Asian players overseas is, to me, his real legacy.

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Name (English)

Sun Jihai

Name (Japanese)

孫継海

Reading

すん・ちーはい

Born

September 30, 1977 (age 49)

Origin

Dalian, People's Republic of China

Height

183 cm

Occupation

association football player

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Libra / Snake

• Wikipedia (English)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun%20Jihai
• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%AD%AB%E7%B6%99%E6%B5%B7
• Wikidatahttps://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q375487

Tags

• association football player

Last updated

September 30, 2026

Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.