Yang Chen

Yang Chen (simplified Chinese: 杨晨; traditional Chinese: 楊晨; pinyin: Yáng Chén; born 17 January 1974 in Beijing) is a former professional football player who is predominantly remembered for being the first Chinese player to play in the Fußball-Bundesliga and for representing the Chinese football team in the 2002 FIFA World Cup.

Club career

Beginning his professional football career with Beijing Guoan he would gradually establish himself within their team during his time with them, however it was only once he had a short loan period with lower league German SV Waldhof Mannheim in 1998 did he show his potential as a striker. This saw Bundesliga side Eintracht Frankfurt interested in him and were willing to make a transfer of 1,000,000 DEM for his services. Being the first Chinese footballer to play in the Bundesliga he would personally thrive within the league and score eight goals to helped the team to avoid relegation to 2. Bundesliga. Yang Chen would go on to be viewed as a trailblazer for Chinese footballers for his ability to score in one of the five major European football leagues and would personally go on to win the Chinese Footballer of the Year in 2000. While his time with Frankfurt was viewed as a success when new manager Felix Magath came in during the 2000–01 season Yang Chen did lose favour within the team and would have to fight back for his position before deciding to move to 2. Bundesliga team FC St. Pauli to ensure his place within the Chinese football team in preparation for the FIFA World Cup.

Yang Chen (athlete)

Yang Chen is a Paralympian athlete from China competing mainly in category T37 sprint events.

Biography

Yang Chen competed in the 2004 Summer Paralympics in Athens, Greece. He won a gold medal in the T37 100m and silver medals in the T37 200m, T37 400m and was part of the Chinese relay teams that won silver medals in both the T35-38 4x100m and 4x400m relays. When the Paralympics took place in 2008 in his home country Yang Chen was not quite as busy only competing in the 200m and as part of the 4x100m T35-38 team that won a silver medal.

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