Sun Wen (footballer)

Sun Wen
Personal information
Full name Sun Wen
Date of birth (1973-04-06) 6 April 1973 (age 50)
Place of birth Shanghai, China
Height 1.62 m (5 ft 4 in)
Position(s) Forward
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1989–2000 Shanghai 659 (164)
2001–2002 Atlanta Beat 33 (7)
2003 Shanghai SVA
2006 Shanghai SVA
International career
1990–2006 China 163 (106)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Sun Wen (Chinese: 孙雯; pinyin: Sūn Wén; born 6 April 1973) is a Chinese former professional footballer who played as a forward. She previously captained the China national team and the Atlanta Beat of the Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA).

In 2000, she won the FIFA Female Player of the Century along with Michelle Akers. Sun won both the Golden Ball (top player) and Golden Boot (top scorer) for her performance at the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup. She is considered one of the all-time greats of the women's game.

Early life

Sun began playing football around the age of ten. Her father, Sun Zonggao, was a recreational football player who took Sun with him to watch matches in the Chinese men's league. Sun credits him for influencing her foray into the sport.

Sun studied Chinese literature at the University of Shanghai.

Playing career

Club

Shanghai SVA

Sun played for the Shanghai team in the Chinese women's league.

Atlanta Beat

Sun played for the Atlanta Beat of the Women's United Soccer Association from 2001 to 2002. She was the first overall pick of the WUSA's Inaugural Draft, but a knee and ankle injury limited her first season with the Beat to 13 games with five starts. During the league's semifinal match against the Philadelphia Charge, the Beat were down 2–0; however, Sun scored on a penalty kick and then provided the assist on the equalizer goal with a corner kick headed in by Cindy Parlow. The Beat would go on to win the match 3–2. She then notched the Beat's third goal in the Founders Cup, helping the team to an eventual 3–3 tie during regulation. The San Jose CyberRays won the title in a penalty kick shootout.

During the 2002 season, Sun played in 18 games, making 10 starts. She scored four goals as the Beat earned another chance at the playoffs, but the Beat were eliminated in the semifinals.

Sun announced her retirement from the WUSA in January 2003 to return to China in preparation for the 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup.

International

Sun appeared on China's national squad at the age of 17 and went on to appear in four FIFA Women's World Cup tournaments for China and became one of three women to have played all of China's 15 matches in its three World Cup appearances. In 1999, she had 10 goals in her World Cup career, leaving her tied for second place on an all-time scoring list.

Sun helped the national team win the Asian Cup in 1991, 1993, 1995 and 1997.

Sun led China to a silver medal at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Athens, Georgia. During the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup, Sun scored seven goals and earned the Golden Ball (top player) and Golden Boot (top scorer) at the tournament.

She returned to the Chinese women's team from a two-year retirement on 15 December 2005. Due to injury reasons, Sun retired again after winning AFC Women's Asian Cup in 2006.

Matches and goals scored at World Cup and Olympic tournaments

Sun played 28 matches and scored 16 goals in 4 world cup tournaments and 2 Olympics: China 1991, Sweden 1995, Atlanta 1996, USA 1999, Sydney 2000, USA 2003; she played and started every match for China. Sun Wen, with her China teams, won a silver medal at Atlanta 1996 Olympics, and finished second at USA 1999 world cup.

Key (expand for notes on "world cup and olympic goals")
Location Geographic location of the venue where the competition occurred
Lineup Start – played entire match
on minute (off player) – substituted on at the minute indicated, and player was substituted off at the same time

off minute (on player) – substituted off at the minute indicated, and player was substituted on at the same time
(c) – captain

Min The minute in the match the goal was scored. For list that include caps, blank indicates played in the match but did not score a goal.
Assist/pass The ball was passed by the player, which assisted in scoring the goal. This column depends on the availability and source of this information.
penalty or pk Goal scored on penalty-kick which was awarded due to foul by opponent. (Goals scored in penalty-shoot-out, at the end of a tied match after extra-time, are not included.)
Score The match score after the goal was scored.
Result The final score.

W – match was won
L – match was lost to opponent
D – match was drawn
(W) – penalty-shoot-out was won after a drawn match
(L) – penalty-shoot-out was lost after a drawn match

aet The score at the end of extra-time; the match was tied at the end of 90' regulation
pso Penalty-shoot-out score shown in parentheses; the match was tied at the end of extra-time
Orange background color – Olympic women's football tournament
Blue background color – FIFA women's world cup final tournament
Goal Match Date Location Opponent Lineup Min Score Result Competition
1
1991-11-16 Guangzhou  Norway {{{4}}}.

off 70' (on Zhu Tao)

4–0 W

Group stage
1
2
1991-11-19 Guangzhou  Denmark Start 37

1–1

2–2 D

Group stage
3
1991-11-21 Foshan  New Zealand Start

4–1 W

Group stage
4
1991-11-24 Guangzhou  Sweden Start

0–1 L

Quarter-final
2
5
1995-06-06 Gävle  United States Start 79

3–3

3–3 D

Group stage
6
1995-06-08 Västerås  Australia Start

4–2 W

Group stage
3
7
1995-06-10 Västerås  Denmark Start 76

2–1

3–1 W

Group stage
8
1995-06-13 Helsingborg  Sweden Start

1–1(pso 4–3) (W)

Quarter-final
9
1995-06-15 Helsingborg  Germany Start

0–1 L

Semi-final
10
1995-06-17 Gävle  United States {{{4}}}.

off 59' (on Wei Haiying)

0–2 L

Third place match
11
1996-07-21 Miami  Sweden Start

2–0 W

Group stage
12
1996-07-23 Miami  Denmark {{{4}}}.

off 43' (on Chen Yufeng)

5–1 W

Group stage
13
1996-07-25 Miami  United States Start

0–0 D

Group stage
14
1996-07-28 Athens GA  Brazil Start

3–2 W

Semi-final
4
15
1996-08-01 Athens GA  United States Start 32

1–1

1–2 L

Gold medal match
16
1999-06-19 San Jose CA  Sweden {{{4}}}.

off 74' (on Pu Wei)

2–1 W

Group stage
5
17 1999-06-23 Portland OR  Ghana Start 9

1–0

7–0 W

Group stage
6
21

3–0

7
54

4–0

8
18 1999-06-26 E Rutherford NJ  Australia {{{4}}}.

off 63' (on Qiu Haiyan)

39

1–0

3–1 W

Group stage
9
51

2–0

19
1999-06-30 San Jose CA  Russia Start

2–0 W

Quarter-final
10
20 1999-07-04 Boston  Norway Start 3

1–0

5–0 W

Semi-final
11
72 pk

5–0

21
1999-07-10 Los Angeles  United States Start

0–0(pso 4–5) (L)

Final
12
22 2000-09-14 Canberra  Nigeria Start 57

2–0

3–1 W

Group stage
13
83

3–0

14
23
2000-09-17 Melbourne  United States Start 67

1–1

1–1 D

Group stage
15
24
2000-09-20 Canberra  Norway Start 75

1–1

1–2 L

Group stage
16
25
2003-09-21 Carson CA  Ghana Start; (c) 29

1–0

1–0 W

Group stage
26
2003-09-25 Carson CA  Australia Start; (c)

1–1 D

Group stage
27
2003-09-28 Portland OR  Russia Start; (c)

1–0 W

Group stage
28
2003-10-02 Portland OR  Canada Start; (c)

0–1 L

Quarter-final

Honors and awards

A strong striker with great skills and passing abilities, Sun won both the Golden Boot (which she shared with Sissi, of Brazil) and the Golden Ball for the 1999 Women's World Cup, and became the first woman to be nominated for the Asian Football Confederation player of the year award.

In 2002, she received the FIFA Internet Award in the FIFA Female Player of the Century voting. While the overall award was won by American Michelle Akers, Sun received the most internet votes on the FIFA-website.

International goals

No. Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1. 19 November 1991 Guangzhou, China  Denmark 1–1 2–2 1991 FIFA Women's World Cup
2. 7 October 1994 Fukuyama, Japan  South Korea 1–0 2–0 1994 Asian Games
3. 2–0
4. 12 October 1994  Japan 2–0 2–0
5. 6 June 1995 Gävle, Sweden  United States 3–3 3–3 1995 FIFA Women's World Cup
6. 10 June 1995 Västerås, Sweden  Denmark 2–1 2–1
7. 24 September 1995 Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia  Philippines 1–0 21–0 1995 AFC Women's Championship
8. ?–0
9. ?–0
10. 30 September 1995  South Korea 1–0 4–0
11. 2 October 1995  Japan 1–0 2–0
12. 1 August 1996 Athens, United States  United States 1–1 1–2 1996 Summer Olympics
13. 12 December 1997 Guangzhou, China  Chinese Taipei 1–0 10–0 1997 AFC Women's Championship
14. 2–0
15. 24 January 1998  Sweden 1–0 4–0 1998 Four Nations Tournament
16. 3–0
17. 21 July 1998 Montreal, Canada  Canada 1–0 4–0 Friendly
18. 3–0
19. 4–0
20. 14 March 1999 Faro, Portugal  Portugal 1–0 4–0 1999 Algarve Cup
21. 2–0
22. 18 March 1999 Albufeira, Portugal  Australia 1–0 2–0
23. 25 March 1999 Holzwickede, Germany  Germany 2–0 3–0 Friendly
24. 22 April 1999 Hershey, United States  United States 1–1 1–2
25. 23 June 1999 Portland, United States  Ghana 1–0 7–0 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup
26. 3–0
27. 4–0
28. 26 June 1999 East Rutherford, United States  Australia 1–0 3–1
29. 2–0
30. 4 July 1999 Foxborough, United States  Norway 1–0 5–0
31. 5–0
32. 7 November 1999 Bacolod, Philippines  South Korea 3–? 5–2 1999 AFC Women's Championship
33. 9 November 1999  Guam 2–0 15–0
34. 7–0
35. 19 November 1999  North Korea 3–0 3–0
36. 12 March 2000 Lagoa, Portugal  Canada 1–0 4–0 2000 Algarve Cup
37. 4–0
38. 18 March 2000 Quarteira, Portugal  Sweden 1–0 1–0
39. 31 May 2000 Canberra, Australia  United States 1–0 1–0 Friendly
40. 2 June 2000 Sydney, Australia  Australia 1–0 1–1
41. 8 June 2000 Newcastle, Australia  Canada 1–2 2–2
42. 14 August 2000 Yangzhou, China  Australia 2–0 3–0 Friendly
43. 14 September 2000 Canberra, Australia  Nigeria 2–0 3–1 2000 Summer Olympics
44. 3–0
45. 17 September 2000 Melbourne, Australia  United States 1–1 1–1
46. 20 September 2000 Canberra, Australia  Norway 1–1 1–2
47. 9 December 2001 New Taipei City, Taiwan  Philippines 2–0 10–0 2001 AFC Women's Championship
48. 14 December 2001  North Korea 1–2 1–3
49. 26 January 2003 Wuhan, China  United States 2–0 2–0 2003 Four Nations Tournament
50. 22 February 2003 Marmande, France  France 2–0 2–1 Friendly
51. 16 March 2003 Ferreiras, Portugal  France 1–0 3–0 2003 Algarve Cup
52. 3–0
53. 18 March 2003 Albufeira, Portugal  Denmark 2–1 2–1
54. 9 June 2003 Nakhon Sawan, Thailand  Vietnam 2–0 6–0 2003 AFC Women's Championship
55. 11 June 2003  India 3–0 12–0
56. 7–0
57. 8–0
58. 11–0
59. 12–0
60. 19 June 2003 Bangkok, Thailand  South Korea 3–1 3–1
61. 7 September 2003 Dalian, China  South Africa 2–0 13–0 Friendly
62. 5–0
63. 7–0
64. 21 September 2003 Carson, United States  Ghana 1–0 1–0 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup

See also


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