Zhunyi Gao

Gao Zhunyi's route to the Chinese Super League ran through Japan. He left the Shanghai Lucky Star academy in 2014 to join Kataller Toyama in the J2 League, where he became the club's youngest ever player, making his debut at 18 and going on to become its youngest goalscorer. A move to Avispa Fukuoka followed in January 2015 before he returned home that July to sign with Shandong Luneng Taishan.

His career in China then took him through a loan at Hebei China Fortune in 2016, followed by a permanent transfer there in 2017. In February 2019 he moved to Guangzhou FC in a deal worth roughly €2.6 million. He left as a free agent in April 2022 and joined Wuhan Three Towns, where he won the 2022 Chinese Super League title and the 2023 Chinese FA Super Cup. His contract at Wuhan expired at the end of 2023, and in January 2024 he signed for Shandong Taishan on a free transfer, returning to the club where his career in China had begun.

Gao made his debut for the Chinese national team on January 10, 2017, in a defeat to Iceland at the China Cup, and was part of the squad that won bronze at the 2017 EAFF E-1 Football Championship. He has remained a regular fixture in the national defence, featuring in the 2026 World Cup qualifying matches against Japan, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia in 2024, and has earned 19 caps without yet scoring for the national side.