Yang Chen
Beginning his professional football career with Beijing Guoan he would gradually establish himself within their team during his time with them, however it was only once he had a short loan period with lower league German SV Waldhof Mannheim in 1998 did he show his potential as a striker. This saw Bundesliga side Eintracht Frankfurt interested in him and were willing to make a transfer of 1,000,000 DEM for his services. Being the first Chinese footballer to play in the Bundesliga he would personally thrive within the league and score eight goals to helped the team to avoid relegation to 2. Bundesliga. Yang Chen would go on to be viewed as a trailblazer for Chinese footballers for his ability to score in one of the five major European football leagues and would personally go on to win the Chinese Footballer of the Year in 2000. While his time with Frankfurt was viewed as a success when new manager Felix Magath came in during the 2000–01 season Yang Chen did lose favour within the team and would have to fight back for his position before deciding to move to 2. Bundesliga team FC St. Pauli to ensure his place within the Chinese football team in preparation for the FIFA World Cup.