Mirahmetjan Muzepper (Chinese: 木热合买提江·莫扎帕; pinyin: Mùrèhémǎitíjiāng Mòzhāpà; Uyghur: مىرەخمەتجان مۇزەپپەر; born 14 January 1991), also known as Metjan (Chinese: 买提江), is a Chinese professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Chinese Super League club Chengdu Rongcheng. He became the first Uyghur player to play for the China national team in 2018.
 Metjan in August 2024 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Mirahmetjan Muzepper | ||
| Date of birth | 14 January 1991 | ||
| Place of birth | Kashgar, Xinjiang, China | ||
| Height | 1.82 m (5 ft 11+1⁄2 in) | ||
| Position(s) | Midfielder | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | Chengdu Rongcheng | ||
| Number | 25 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 2004–2009 | Shandong Taishan | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2010 | → Henan Jianye (loan) | 21 | (0) |
| 2011–2013 | Shandong Luneng | 15 | (0) |
| 2014–2016 | Henan Jianye | 41 | (1) |
| 2017–2019 | Tianjin Teda | 77 | (2) |
| 2020–2023 | Shanghai Port | 70 | (1) |
| 2024- | Chengdu Rongcheng | 0 | (0) |
| International career‡ | |||
| 2009–2010 | China U20 | 7 | (0) |
| 2010–2012 | China U23 | 3 | (0) |
| 2018– | China | 9 | (0) |
|
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 4 November 2023 ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 18 December 2019 | |||
Club career
editMirahmetjan Muzepper grew up from a football family with his father Muzepper and grandfather Zunun Mamut both playing within the Xinjiang region.[1] At a young age he would quickly draw the attentions of Shandong Luneng and join their youth team where he would win several youth championships, which attracted the interests of Henan Construction who took him on loan at the beginning of the 2010 Chinese Super League season where he would make his senior debut in a league game against Jiangsu Sainty on April 18, 2010 that was a 0-0 draw.[2]
After a productive season where Mirahmetjan established himself as a regular for Henan he would return to Shandong at the beginning of the 2011 Chinese Super League and would go on to make his first senior appearance for the club in a league game against Chengdu Blades on April 1, 2011 as a substitute Wang Yongpo in a 3-3 draw.[3] He would only be able to establish himself as a squad player within the team. On 5 January 2014, Mirahmetjan transferred to fellow Chinese Super League side Henan Jianye on a free transfer.[4] On 31 December 2016, Henan Jianye officially confirmed that Muzepper had left the club after a disagreement in negotiations for extending his contract.[5]
On 9 January 2017, Mirahmetjan moved to top tier side Tianjin TEDA.[6] He would make his debut in a league game on 4 March 2017 against his former club Shandong Luneng in a 2-0 defeat.[7] He would go on to establish himself as an integral member of the team and once he started to play more in midfield he would score his first goal for the club in a league game on 6 May 2018 against Guizhou Hengfeng in a 5-1 victory.[8]
After three seasons in Tianjin, Mirahmetjan transferred to Shanghai SIPG (later renamed as Shanghai Port) on 17 January 2020.[9] On 29 June 2023, Mirahmetjan scored his first goal for the club in a 2-1 away win against Beijing Guoan.[10]
International career
editMirahmetjan was called up into China U-20's squad in 2009 where he would take part in the teams 2010 AFC U-19 Championship qualification. After China's successful qualification he would draw significant attention when he became the first Uyghur player to ever be called up to the senior team.[11] The Chinese Head coach Gao Hongbo called him up for several training sessions in preparation for 2010 East Asian Football Championship on the basis of his youth performances, however he did not feature within the tournament. He would return to the Chinese U-20 squad and take part in the 2010 AFC U-19 Championship where he would play in three games and saw China knocked out quarter-finals. After that tournament he was immediately promoted to the Chinese U-23 squad and included in the team that played in the Football at the 2010 Asian Games where he would once more play in three games and see China knocked out in the last sixteen. On 7 September 2018, he made his debut for Chinese national team in a 1–0 away defeat against Qatar, coming on for Gao Lin in the 74th minute,[12] which made him the first Uyghur player to appear for the Chinese national team.[13]
Career statistics
editClub statistics
editStatistics accurate as of match played 31 January 2023.[14]
| Club | Season | League | National Cup | Continental | Other | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Henan (Loan) | 2010 | Chinese Super League | 21 | 0 | - | 0 | 0 | - | 21 | 0 | ||
| Shandong Taishan | 2011 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 1 | - | 8 | 1 | ||
| 2012 | 8 | 0 | 2 | 0 | - | - | 10 | 0 | ||||
| 2013 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | - | - | 4 | 0 | ||||
| Total | 15 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 22 | 1 | ||
| Henan | 2014 | Chinese Super League | 16 | 0 | 1 | 0 | - | - | 17 | 0 | ||
| 2015 | 13 | 1 | 1 | 0 | - | - | 14 | 1 | ||||
| 2016 | 12 | 0 | 2 | 2 | - | - | 14 | 2 | ||||
| Total | 41 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 45 | 3 | ||
| Tianjin Jinmen Tiger | 2017 | Chinese Super League | 26 | 0 | 1 | 0 | - | - | 27 | 0 | ||
| 2018 | 27 | 1 | 1 | 0 | - | - | 28 | 1 | ||||
| 2019 | 24 | 1 | 1 | 0 | - | - | 25 | 1 | ||||
| Total | 77 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 80 | 2 | ||
| Shanghai Port | 2020 | Chinese Super League | 16 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 0 | - | 25 | 0 | |
| 2021 | 18 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | 25 | 0 | |||
| 2022 | 16 | 0 | 1 | 0 | - | - | 17 | 0 | ||||
| Total | 50 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 67 | 0 | ||
| Career total | 204 | 3 | 20 | 2 | 11 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 235 | 6 | ||
International statistics
edit| National team | ||
|---|---|---|
| Year | Apps | Goals |
| 2018 | 5 | 0 |
| 2019 | 4 | 0 |
| Total | 9 | 0 |
Honours
editShanghai Port
References
edit- ^ "买提江成维族国青第一人 "新疆王"期盼进国足". sports.163.com. 11 August 2009. Archived from the original on 19 July 2011. Retrieved 8 August 2012.
- ^ "0-0 - 比赛结果-中超数据库-搜狐". csldata.sports.sohu.com. 18 April 2010. Retrieved 8 August 2012.
- ^ "3-3 - 比赛结果-中超数据库-搜狐". csldata.sports.sohu.com. 1 April 2011. Retrieved 8 August 2012.
- ^ 建业宣布签约鲁能边路悍将 另有中甲门神加盟 at sports.qq.com 2014-01-05 Retrieved 2014-01-09(in Chinese)
- ^ 建业官宣两将离队：张力赴国安 买提江或签泰达 at sports.sohu.com 2016-12-31 Retrieved 2017-01-03(in Chinese)
- ^ 泰达火爆官宣签约11人 3名教练8名球员 at sports.sohu.com 2017-01-09 Retrieved 2017-01-10
- ^ "SHANDONG TAISHAN VS. TIANJIN JINMEN TIGER 2 - 0". soccerway.com. 4 March 2017. Retrieved 31 December 2022.
- ^ "TIANJIN JINMEN TIGER VS. GUIZHOU 5 - 1". soccerway.com. 6 May 2018. Retrieved 31 December 2022.
- ^ 上港官宣买提江加盟 国脚左路多面手增强阵容厚度 (in Chinese)
- ^ "国安1-2海港，买提江、吕文君建功，方昊破门，杨立瑜伤退" (in Chinese). Dongqiudi. 29 June 2023. Retrieved 30 June 2023.
- ^ "国足名单：维吾尔族国脚鲁能独苗 津川小将首入围". sports.sina.com.cn. 21 January 2010. Retrieved 8 August 2012.
- ^ 热身-全场0射正门框2次救险 国足客场0-1卡塔尔. Netease (in Chinese). 8 September 2018. Retrieved 10 September 2018.
- ^ 里程碑，买提江成为首位代表国足出战的新疆籍球员. dongqiudi.com (in Chinese). 11 September 2018. Retrieved 12 September 2018.
- ^ 买提江 at sodasoccer Retrieved 2018-10-17 (in Chinese) Archived 2018-10-18 at the Wayback Machine
External links
edit- Player stats at Sohu.com
- Mirahmetjan Muzepper at Soccerway
- Mirahmetjan Muzepper at National-Football-Teams.com