Xu Yunlong (born 17 February 1979 in Beijing

Beijing

Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...

) is a Chinese

Chinese people

The term Chinese people may refer to any of the following:*People with Han Chinese ethnicity ....

 football player who currently captains Beijing Guoan

Beijing Guoan

Beijing Guoan Football Club Beijing Guoan Football Club Beijing Guoan Football Club (Simplified Chinese: 北京国安 is part of CITIC Group (China International Trust and Investment Corporation). Their current home stadium is Workers Stadium and the Fengtai stadium for less popular games. The current head...

 in the Chinese Super League

Chinese Super League

The Chinese Football Association Super League , commonly known as Chinese Super League or CSL, currently known as the Pirelli Chinese Football Association Super League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest tier of professional association football in China, operating under the auspices of the...

. He has also been a member of Chinese football team

China national football team

The China PR national football team is the national association football team of the People's Republic of China and is governed by the Chinese Football Association...

 and was a participant at the 2002 FIFA World Cup

2002 FIFA World Cup

The 2002 FIFA World Cup was the 17th staging of the FIFA World Cup, held in South Korea and Japan from 31 May to 30 June. It was also the first World Cup held in Asia, and the last in which the golden goal rule was implemented. Brazil won the tournament for a record fifth time, beating Germany 2–0...

.

Club career

Xu Yunlong started his professional football career in the 1999 league season for Beijing Guoan when he broke into senior team, making 13 league appearances and quickly established himself as an extremely versatile player. By the next season he would continue to use his versatility to gain considerably more playing time for Beijing Guoan and would often be used as a right-back where his pace was quickly exploited, however after several season he would increasingly move to centre-back and become an integral member of their defence. His importance towards the team would be shown when in the 2008 league season when he would be named as their vice-captain and then later as their 2009 title winning captain.

International career

He made his debut against Yugoslavia

Yugoslavia national football team

The Yugoslavia national football team represented the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in association football. It enjoyed a modicum of success in international competition. In 1992, during the Yugoslav wars, the team was suspended from international...

 on May 25, 2000 in a 2-0 defeat for Bora Milutinović who used Xu Yunlong predominately as a right-back. Under Bora Milutinović Xu Yunlong's international career flourished keeping previous right-back Sun Jihai

Sun Jihai

Jihai Sun is a Chinese association football player. He is currently playing for Chinese side Inter Xi'an and for the China national football team as a defender or a midfielder....

 out of the national team during the 2000 AFC Asian Cup

2000 AFC Asian Cup

The Asian Football Confederation's 2000 AFC Asian Cup finals were held in Lebanon between October 12 and October 29. Japan defeated defending champion Saudi Arabia in the final match in Beirut.-Qualification:...

 tournament and initial World Cup qualifying phase. He was however forced out of action due to pneumonia and Sun Jihai regained his place within the team, nevertheless his performances were still good enough to be called into the squad to participant at the 2002 FIFA World Cup

2002 FIFA World Cup

The 2002 FIFA World Cup was the 17th staging of the FIFA World Cup, held in South Korea and Japan from 31 May to 30 June. It was also the first World Cup held in Asia, and the last in which the golden goal rule was implemented. Brazil won the tournament for a record fifth time, beating Germany 2–0...

.

External links

• 2002 China Team Player Profile at BBC website
• Career Player Profile
• Player stats at football-lineups website