Wei Zhen (footballer)

Wei Zhen (born 12 February 1997) is a Chinese professional footballer who currently plays for Chinese Super League club Shanghai Port and the China national team.

Club career
Wei Zhen joined Chinese Super League side Shanghai SIPG's (later renamed as Shanghai Port) youth academy in November 2014 when Shanghai SIPG bought Shanghai Luckystar' youth team. He was promoted to the first team squad in the middle of 2016 season. Wei made his senior debut on 3 August 2017, playing the whole match in a 4–0 home win against Tianjin Quanjian in the second leg of 2017 Chinese FA Cup fifth round. He made his league debut three days later in a 0–0 home draw against Tianjin Quanjian, also playing full 90 minutes and was selected as player of the match. He would make 13 appearances for the club throughout the 2017 season.

As a promising young player he would attract the interests of fellow top-tier club Tianjin Quanjian, who would make an official approach for him in February 2018, however his parent club refused Wei's transfer request after they believed that he was being illegally poached and incentivized to join Tianjin Quanjian. Wei applied to the CFA for arbitration on 16 April 2018. While his arbitration was being heard he would not play for Shanghai throughout the whole of the 2018 season. On 18 January 2019, he made a public apology to the club. He would immediately be welcomed back into the team and won the 2019 Chinese FA Super Cup in his first match back. After the game he would establish himself as an integral member of the team and go on to score his first goal for the club on 15 August 2021, in a league game against Tianjin Jinmen Tiger in a 5–0 victory.

International career
On 23 March 2023, Wei made his international debut in a 0–0 away draw against New Zealand.

Career statistics
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Honours
Shanghai Port
 * Chinese Super League: 2023
 * Chinese FA Super Cup: 2019