Tao Jian

After coming through the Chengdu Football Association youth ranks, he moved to Olympique Lyonnais's academy in July 2019, then spent two seasons on loan at the club's satellite side, Villefranche Beaujolais, making a single Coupe de France appearance there before his release in the summer of 2022.

He returned to Chengdu for a trial in early 2023 and signed permanently with Rongcheng that April, arriving as a free agent. The breakthrough came fast: handed his league debut in a 3-2 defeat away to Qingdao Hainiu that August, he held on to the gloves for the rest of the campaign, starting the final eleven matches of the season and keeping four clean sheets. He built on that the following year with 23 league appearances and seven clean sheets.

Tao's rise through the Chinese youth system — U15, U17, U19 and U22 — culminated in a call-up to the senior squad for the 2023 AFC Asian Cup in Qatar, where manager Aleksandar Janković named him one of four goalkeepers. He arrived at the tournament as the only player in the squad without any senior international experience.