Tianjin Teda F.C.
As with all the most promising young Chinese players Zhang Xiaorui would quickly be included in the short-lived Chinese national youth team program to study football abroad in Brazil for a five-year training programme sponsored by Jianlibao and called the Chinese Jianlibao Youth Football Team. After graduating through the Jianlibao Youth Team he would move to Tianjin Teda F.C. to start his professional football career. He would show his potential when he would quickly establish himself as an integral member of the team and would personally win the Young Player of the Year award at the end of the 1999 league season.