China against China. The almanac states its case, the crowd votes, you decide.
China · 2002–24 · CDM
He started all three group games at the 2002 World Cup, still China's only appearance at the tournament, and spent that same season at Everton, where David Moyes used him 29 times in the Premier League. Ninety-two caps, that World Cup, a China League One title with Liaoning Whowin in 2009 and a seventh-place Everton finish make up the playing record; a 2024 conviction for bribery and match-fixing brought a 20-year sentence and a lifetime ban. Career record: 92 caps and 6 goals for China; club career at Liaoning, Everton, Chengdu Tiancheng.
China · 1976–2013 · CAM
In 1979 a journalist named Qiu Zhenqi gave Chinese football a phrase of its own, the Zhixing style, coined for a man who went a whole career without a yellow or red card and never argued a referee's decision. Third at the 1976 Asian Cup, bronze at the 1978 Asian Games, a national league title with Guangdong in 1979, three straight years among China's top ten athletes, and the AFC's Golden Star Award in 2013.
The almanac cannot separate them: both are rated 81.
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