Zhen Wei

In February 2018, Tianjin Quanjian approached him with a lucrative offer, and Shanghai SIPG accused the rival club of illegal poaching and of incentivising Wei to breach his contract. He was frozen out of team activities for the entire 2018 season as a result. Wei applied for arbitration through the Chinese Football Association that April and was only reinstated in January 2019, after issuing a public apology on Weibo.

Wei is a product of the Shanghai East Asia academy, the setup that became Shanghai SIPG and later Shanghai Port. He joined its youth ranks in 2016 and made his senior debut in August 2017. His first senior goal came on 15 August 2021, against Tianjin Jinmen Tiger.

At club level his return has been considerable. Wei has won the Chinese Super League four times, in 2018, 2022–23, 2023–24 and 2024–25, added the Chinese FA Cup in 2024 and the Chinese FA Super Cup in 2019.

Internationally, Wei worked his way up through China's youth sides, earning 20 caps and a goal at Under-19 level before featuring for the Under-23s. His senior debut for China came on 23 March 2023, in a goalless friendly draw against New Zealand, and he has since gone on to collect six senior caps without scoring.