Cheng Chin Lung

Cheng Chin Lung (Chinese: 鄭展龍; Jyutping: Zeng6 Zin2lung4; born 1 July 1998 in Hong Kong) is a Hong Kong professional footballer who currently plays for Hong Kong Premier League club Kitchee.

Cheng Chin Lung
Personal information
Full name Cheng Chin Lung
Date of birth (1998-01-07) 7 January 1998
Place of birth Hong Kong
Height 1.69 m (5 ft 7 in)
Playing position(s) Attacking midfielder
Club information
Current team
 Kitchee
Number 28
Youth career
2008–2015 Kitchee
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2015– Kitchee 16 (5)
2017–2018 → Dreams FC (loan) 8 (0)
National team‡
2013–2014 Hong Kong U-16 7 (2)
2017– Hong Kong U-23 1 (0)
2017– Hong Kong 3 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 16 January 2020
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 18 December 2019

Youth career

An avid fan of both basketball and football, Cheng applied to join the Kitchee academy at age 9 but was turned down. Not wanting to waste his son's talent, Cheng's father sought out academy coach Chu Chi Kwong personally to ask him to give his son another chance. Cheng was granted another trial and was accepted into the academy at age 10. He later became part of the first class of players to graduate from the Kitchee academy and into the first team when he signed a professional contract in 2015.[1]

Club career

During Kitchee's 2015 AFC Cup quarter final match on 16 September 2015, Cheng was handed his first team debut as a substitute late in the match.[2] On 23 April 2016, Cheng scored his first professional goal in a 4-2 win over Hong Kong Pegasus.[3]

In June 2016, Cheng tore his anterior cruciate ligament in a HKFA Youth Cup match and was sidelined for nine months following surgery and rehabilitation.[4] Cheng missed the entire 2016-17 season as a result of the injury.

In July 2017, new Dreams FC manager Leung Chi Wing persuaded Cheng to join his club on loan. On 26 August, he played his first professional match in over a year, starting the game and playing 65 minutes against Tai Po.[5] On 9 January 2018, Cheng was recalled by Kitchee ahead of their 2018 AFC Champions League campaign.[6]

On 14 March 2018, Cheng scored a stunning left-footed curler at the edge of the penalty box in the 92nd minute to give Kitchee a historic 1-0 win in the 2018 AFC Champions League Group stage match over Japanese side Kashiwa Reysol, making him the first ever Hong Kong-born player to receive Man of the Match and Kitchee the first ever team from Hong Kong to win a game in the Champions League.[7]

Honours

Club
Kitchee

Individual
  • Best Young Player: 2018

References
  1. "港超聯: Ken哥Blog興大發講青訓". Yan Chai Hospital Tung Chi Ying Memorial Secondary School. Archived from the original on 13 September 2016. Retrieved 23 July 2015. (in Chinese)
  2. "加西亞：傑志球員！你們打得很好". on.cc. Retrieved 16 September 2015. (in Chinese)
  3. "辛祖入兩粒！傑志4比2贏香港飛馬". on.cc. Retrieved 23 April 2016. (in Chinese)
  4. "東網直播青少年聯賽足總盃決賽 明日之星決一高下". on.cc. Retrieved 10 July 2016. (in Chinese)
  5. "Dreams FC 1:1 Wofoo Tai Po". HKFA. Archived from the original on 25 August 2017. Retrieved 26 August 2017.
  6. "傑志主場首戰對手欲組國腳級防線 全北汽車向江蘇蘇寧提出借洪正好". Upower. Retrieved 9 January 2018. (in Chinese)
  7. "History made as Kitchee become first Hong Kong club to earn victory in the AFC Champions League".
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.