There have been many players who have had lengthy, successful careers in the Chinese Super League, but what about the talents who have burst onto the scene at a young age?
Many players in China hit their prime in their mid twenties, with some not making their debuts until their late teens or even early twenties due to relative development and experience gained in the lower levels.
There have, however, been a number of supremely promising players who have had the distinction of making their debuts in the Chinese Super League at an extremely young age.
The stellar performances of Zhejiang’s Wang Yudong has many people excited for his future, particularly where the China National Team is concerned, but what about the players that began their careers even earlier than him?
Here are the five youngest players to ever play in the top tier of Chinese football since the establishment of the league in 2004.
5. Du Yuezheng
First up on this list is striker Du Yuezheng, who made his Chinese Super League debut back in 2022 with the now-defunct Shenzhen FC.
Born in Datong, Shanxi Province on 14th September 2005, the promising young striker made a substitute appearance in his side’s 2-0 loss to Chengdu Rongcheng on 4th June 2022.
In doing so, he replaced one of the greats of modern Chinese football history, Gao Lin, aged just 16 years, eight months and 21 days old.
He would go on to make 14 total league appearances in 2022, before becoming more of a regular in the side the following season, where he featured 26 times in the league.
With Shenzhen dissolving in January 2024, Du Yuezheng was left without a club for the 2024 season, and he joined Portuguese club Juveforce for a few months before making a permanent move to Spanish third-tier side Marbella FC.
He still currently plies his trade with the Primera Federación club, with whom he has appeared in 13 matches and scored once while also featuring in three Copa Del Rey fixtures.
Now aged 19, he will continue to develop his game in Spain, with a potential return to China always in the cards when a club sees him as the future at the striker position.
4. Zhang Aokai
While Du Yuezheng’s debut was made at a very young age, it wasn’t young enough to eclipse the previous record holder, or indeed even the player to break that record a year prior to Du’s first match.
Back in 2016, a season-finale match between Guangzhou Evergrande and Shandong Taishan saw the youngest player record broken when Zhang Aokai was brought on with just five minutes remaining to replace a legend of the Chinese game, Zheng Zhi.
Guangzhou were convincing victors that day, 30th October 2016, with a 4-0 victory in front of a 42-thousand strong home crowd en route to winning the Chinese Super League.
With the league comfortably theirs, then-manager Luiz Felipe Scolari decided to give Zhang Aokai his debut aged 16 years, eight months and 12 days.
Zhang’s debut did not lead to the increased appearances as it did with Du Yuezheng, as he would not make another professional appearance for Guangzhou, nor any club, until three years later, when, having joined Espanyol B in 2019, he was loaned to Spanish fourth-tier side UA Horta.
Playing time has been hard to come by for Zhang Aokai, who returned to his home country to join Cangzhou Mighty Lions (then-named Shijiazhuang Ever Bright), played on loan for China League Two side Jiangxi Dark Horse Junior in 2022 and then moved to Shanghai Jiading Huilong in 2023.
He has dropped down the ladder in the Chinese football pyramid and now plays for Yulin Mobei Miners in the Chinese Champions League (fourth tier).
He held the record for the youngest Chinese Super League player in history for nearly five years, having featured just once in the league for what looks likely to be his entire career.
3. Yang Dejiang
The first player to break Zhang Aokai’s record was in fact another Guangzhou Evergrande player. This time, it was Yang Dejiang, who also replaced Zheng Zhi as a substitute with just five minutes remaining in a match against Shenzhen.
The match, on 2nd May 2021, saw Guangzhou claim a 2-0 victory over Shenzhen, with Yang Dejiang appearing in the 8th minute aged 16 years, eight months and just one day old – putting him ahead of Zhang Aokai by just 11 days.
Yang played alongside some Guangzhou legends that day, including Ai Kesen and Mei Feng, and he would feature on the substitutes bench quite often through the 2021 and 2022 seasons before the club’s ultimate relegation to China League One.
He made 20 appearances for Guangzhou after the drop down, across the 2023 and 2024 seasons, before the club ultimately withdrew from competitive play prior to this season.
Yang Dejiang remained in China League One, joining Nanjing City. At the time of writing, he has featured in all eight of the club’s matches to start the season and looks set to be a regular for the side moving forward.
Aged 20 now, he still has a bright future ahead of him in Chinese football. Whether he can find his way back to the top tier is yet to be seen, but he is still young enough that he could one day make another appearance to cement himself as a solid player in his home country’s top domestic competition.
2. Zhang Hao
Yang Dejiang’s record did not last as long as his predecessor’s, with it being broken in September 2022, just one year and four months later.
However, on 23rd December 2022, Meizhou Hakka claimed a close 1-0 victory over Changchun Yatai that introduced another player on this list, but not the one to break the all-time record.
The match was almost over by the time Zhang Hao was brought on as a substitute in the 93rd minute, replacing the injured Chen Guokang.
Aged just 16 years, five months and six days old, enough to put him ahead of Yang Dejiang but not enough to claim the out-right top spot, it was Zhang Hao’s first appearance on the substitute’s bench all season, and it was also the last time he would play for the first team for three years.
He has since made just two short substitute appearances for Meizhou this season, coming on against Shanghai Port (2-1 away loss) and Zhejiang (2-2 away draw). Aged just 18 now, he looks to be a player who could have a bright future in the Chinese Super League.
1. Shahzat Ghojaehmet
The record, which still stands today, was set three months before Zhang Hao stepped onto the pitch against Changchun Yatai. It was broken by Shenzhen’s Shahzat Ghojaehmet in an away match against the now-defunct Wuhan Yangtze River on 20th September 2022.
Aged 16 years, two months and 13 days, Ghojaehmet followed the situation of all the previous players on this list when he replaced Jiang Zhipeng, who had just scored a free kick one minute earlier, in the 70th minute against Wuhan.
This 20-minute appearance helped the Yining, Xinjiang native become more of a regular in the Chinese Super League. He made 35 total league appearances for the club across the rest of the 2022 and 2023 seasons, scoring three goals and contributing two assists in the process.
After Shenzhen’s untimely demise, Ghojaehmet dropped down a level to join Heilongjiang Ice City in 2024, where he scored once in eight appearances for the club before making a return to Shenzhen – this time with the newly branded Shenzhen Peng City during the 2024 summer transfer window.
He has yet to fully establish himself in the team, with just four league appearances under his belt, but he is still just 18 years old and could develop into an important player if he continues to be given more opportunities in the first team.
He had a 14-minute substitute appearance in the team’s 3-1 win over Changchun Yatai earlier this season and even played a full hour in his first start with the club in their last fixture against Beijing Guoan.
He could have a bright future ahead of him and having the record of the youngest player ever in the Chinese Super League might very well remain a positive in his career, where it has often been the end of it for some on this list.