Andy Nägelein

Andreas Hannes Ling Fung Nägelein (traditional Chinese: 聶凌峰; simplified Chinese: 聂凌峰/安迪·内格雷恩[1]; Jyutping: nip4 ling6 fung1; born 5 October 1981), commonly known as Andy Nägelein, is a former Hong Kong professional footballer of partial German descent. Nägelein began his career in Germany and he left to Cyprus and China in short term. His usual position is as a defensive midfielder primarily, but he can also be utilized as a centre back or a full back.

Andy Nägelein
Personal information
Full name German: Andreas Hannes Ling Fung Nägelein
Chinese: 聶凌峰
Date of birth (1981-10-05) 5 October 1981
Place of birth Hong Kong
Height 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Position(s) Defensive midfielder
Defender
Youth career
1987–1996 1. FC Nürnberg
1996–1999 1. FC Schwand
1999–2000 SG Quelle Fürth
2000–2001 1. SC Feucht
2002 ASV Neumarkt
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2002–2003 SC 04 Schwabach 0 (0)
2003–2004 1. FC Schweinfurt 05 26 (1)
2005 1. SC Feucht 12 (0)
2005–2006 Kickers Emden 33 (0)
2006–2007 SV Wacker Burghausen 2 (0)
2006–2007 SV Wacker Burghausen II 4 (0)
2007–2009 Kickers Emden 77 (1)
2009 APEP Pitsilia 10 (1)
2010–2011 Shenzhen Ruby 40 (0)
2012–2013 Rangers 2 (0)
2013 Guizhou Zhicheng 11 (4)
2014 Hunan Billows 19 (1)
2015–2016 Eastern 11 (1)
National team‡
2013–2016 Hong Kong 9 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 30 June 2016
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 24 March 2016

Early life

Nägelein was born on 5 October 1981 in Hong Kong, his father, a German working in Hong Kong, and his mother, a Hongkongese. He has a sister, who was also born in Hong Kong. When he was a year old, his family went back to Nuremberg, Germany.[2][3]

At the age of five, Nägelein started playing football for a local club and he scored 170 goals in the league, so Nägelein switched to 1. FC Nürnberg and stayed for nine years. He played as a striker as a young player, but he currently plays as a midfielder. This is because his coach told him that "offense can win a game, but defense wins championship". After the Nuremberg era, he switched to different German clubs and he started his professional career in age 19.[2]

Club career

Europe era

Nägelein started his senior career with SC 04 Schwabach in the Oberliga Bayern. He moved to 1. FC Schweinfurt 05 in 2003. After Schweinfurt 05 released him in 2004, Nägelein joined 1. SC Feucht. However, Feucht was relegated at the end of the 2004–05 season, so he joined a new Regionalliga Nord club Kickers Emden. After good performances at Kickers Emden, he moved to SV Wacker Burghausen in the 2. Bundesliga. After half a year, he returned to Kickers Emden.[4] He was one of main players at the club in following two and half seasons.[3][5][6] After the 2008–09 season Emden voluntary withdrew from the league because of license restrictions, and Nägelein left the club.

In 2009, Nägelein signed for the Cypriot club APEP Pitsilia, it was his first time to play in a top division league.[3][7][8] Nägelein attracted the interest of Asian clubs because he was born in Hong Kong. This is the reason to explain why Nägelein left for China before 2010 Chinese Super League started.[7]

Asia era

He was reportedly in talks with a number of Chinese clubs, including Shandong Luneng.[9] On 12 February 2010, Shenzhen Ruby announced they had reached an agreement signing Nägelein.[10] Nägelein chose this club since Shenzhen is situated just north of Hong Kong.[7] Nägelein was in the regular lineup of Shenzhen and created the best opening season since the club was founded. In a league match against Changchun Yatai on 18 April 2010, over one-third of fouls by Yatai players attacked him due to his enormous playing area.[11]

Nägelein's injury in May 2010 made Shenzhen in low tide.[12] He came back to the field after the 2010 FIFA World Cup but Shenzhen Ruby lost to Tianjin Teda 2–1.[13] Nägelein had a rest after this match due to his injury. He introduced his friend to South China and chairman of South China Steven Lo said he will contract two drained Hong Kong footballers simultaneously, so Hong Kong media thought one of two is Nägelein.[14] Nevertheless, Lo said he never talked about this with Nägelein.[15]

During the training in Shandong Sports Center on 17 September 2010, Nägelein quarreled with Vyacheslav Hleb by English profanity. After that, the oldest foreign player Aleksandar Živković came out to mediate.[16] Shenzhen Ruby lost 3–2 to Shandong Luneng on 18 September 2010, and this was the fourth straight loss games of Shenzhen Ruby.[17]

He finished his first season in China with Shenzhen Ruby as 13th place in the league.[18] After the season, Nägelein was handed shirt number 7, and was chosen as the regular start-up player of the team by new coach Philippe Troussier.[19]

Troussier tried to let him play as centre back in the new season. Lamentably, Shenzhen would not have a good start in the 2011 Chinese Super League, suffering five straight losses, and the worst start ever since the club was founded.[20] On 8 May 2011, Nägelein failed passing the ball in the 68th minute of the match against Guangzhou Evergrande, and caused Shenzhen to lose by a goal.[20] After that, Nägelein's teammate Huang Fengtao criticised him for his mistakes on the Sina Blog.[21] After that, Troussier replaced Nägelein in midfield and Shenzhen got their first point after the match against Dalian Shide on 15 May 2011.[22]

Nägelein assisted Chris Killen to score in the 57th minute of the league match against Changchun Yatai, which impressed others[23] but he became mainly used as a substitute later in the season, because Nägelein has been injured and Shenzhen had contracted Ronald Rivero in the summer.[24][25] Nägelein went back to the field on 2 November 2011, but Shenzhen had regulated the previous week.[26] He was released by Shenzhen at the end of 2011 league season.

Nägelein was signed by Hong Kong First Division League side Rangers in August 2012.[27] However, Nägelein broke his leg after a terrible tackle by Chan Pak Hang in a league match against Sun Pegasus on 8 September 2012.[28][29] He had three-month leave for treatments and recovering training in Nuremberg, Germany.[29][30] The contract with Rangers ended in the end of January and Nägelein has become free agent player again.[30]

On 6 July 2013, Nägelein signed a contract with China League One side Guizhou Zhicheng,[31] from where he transferred to China League One side Hunan Billows on 27 February 2014.[32] In 2015, he went back to Hong Kong, joining Eastern this time, with whom he won the Senior Challenge Shield and the Premier League in 2016. He was released by Eastern in summer 2016 when his contract expired.

International career
Andy made his international debut for Hong Kong against United Arab Emirates on 15 October 2013.

In principle, Nägelein can represent either the German or Hong Kong national teams because he has both German citizenship and right of abode in Hong Kong.[2][33] However, Nägelein controversially failed in his application for a Hong Kong passport due to his German citizenship, even he has the right by Hong Kong Basic Law since he was born in Hong Kong to a Hong Kong Chinese mother.[34]

After Nägelein returned to the Far East, Hong Kong coach Tsang Wai Chung told media he will call Nägelein for the team[33] but Tsang did not select Nägelein for the training session before the 2010–11 season in Hong Kong.[35] Tsang explained that some players would be called up during the season,[35] but Nägelein was not chosen by Tsang for any training session in the season.

Under FIFA eligibility rules, Nägelein could also play for the Chinese national team after a two-year Chinese Super League career for his Hong Kong passport. Nägelein recommended himself via his agent to Chinese Football Association in 2010, but the association told him that China team would not select him for any match.[36]

On 2 August 2013, the Hong Kong national team included Nägelein in the 29-man training squad for two international friendlies against Myanmar and Singapore in September 2013.[37] On 3 October 2013, Nägelein did break into the 23-man final squad for 2015 AFC Asian Cup qualification match against United Arab Emirates.[38] He made his international debut for Hong Kong against United Arab Emirates on 15 October 2013.[39]

Career statistics

Club
Updated 19 March 2016
Club performance League Cup League Cup Continental Total
SeasonClubLeague AppsGoals AppsGoals AppsGoals AppsGoals AppsGoals
Germany League DFB-Pokal Other Europe Total
2002–03 SC 04 Schwabach Bayernliga 00---00
2003–04 FC Schweinfurt 05 Regionalliga Süd 261---261
2004–05 1. SC Feucht 120---120
2005–06 Kickers Emden Regionalliga Nord 330---330
2006–07 SV Wacker Burghausen 2. Bundesliga 2000--20
SV Wacker Burghausen II Bayernliga 40---40
Kickers Emden Regionalliga Nord 160---160
2007–08 310---310
2008–09 3. Liga 301---301
Cyprus League Cypriot Cup League Cup Europe Total
2009–10[8] APEP Pitsilia First Division 10140--141
China PR League FA Cup CSL Cup Asia Total
2010 Shenzhen Ruby Super League 250---250
2011 15010--160
Hong Kong League FA Cup & Shield League Cup Asia Total
2012–13 Rangers First Division 2000--20
China PR League FA Cup CSL Cup Asia Total
2013 Guizhou Zhicheng League One 11400--114
2014 Hunan Billows 19100--191
Hong Kong League FA Cup, Shield & Playoff League Cup Asia Total
2014–15 Eastern Premier League 404110-91
2015–16 711020-101
Total Germany 15420000001542
Cyprus 101400000141
China PR 705100000715
Hong Kong 131513000212
Career total 2479101300026010

International
Updated 24 March 2016
# Date Venue Opponent Result Scored Competition
1 15 October 2013 Hong Kong Stadium, So Kon Po, Hong Kong  United Arab Emirates 0–4 0 2015 AFC Asian Cup qualification
2 15 November 2013 Mohammed Bin Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates  United Arab Emirates 0–4 0 2015 AFC Asian Cup qualification
3 19 November 2013 Hong Kong Stadium, So Kon Po, Hong Kong  Uzbekistan 0–2 0 2015 AFC Asian Cup qualification
4 5 March 2014 My Dinh National Stadium, Từ Liêm District, Hanoi, Vietnam  Vietnam 1–3 0 2015 AFC Asian Cup qualification
5 14 October 2014 Hong Kong Stadium, So Kon Po, Hong Kong  Argentina 0–7 0 Friendly
6 13 November 2014 Taipei Municipal Stadium, Taipei, Taiwan  North Korea 1–2 0 2015 EAFF East Asian Cup
7 19 November 2014 Taipei Municipal Stadium, Taipei, Taiwan  Guam 0–0 0 2015 EAFF East Asian Cup
8 28 March 2015 Mong Kok Stadium, Mong Kok, Hong Kong  Guam 1–0 0 Friendly
9 24 March 2016 Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium, Doha, Qatar  Qatar 0–2 0 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification – AFC Second Round

Personal life

The surname of Nägelein's mother is Chan (Chinese: 陳), but his Cantonese surname is Nip (Chinese: 聶), which is based on the pronunciation of his father's surname Nägelein.[3][40] And his Chinese given name Ling Fung (Chinese: 凌峰) is the same with his grandfather's name.[7] Nägelein met his girlfriend in Nuremberg since he studied at business college for a short time when he was 18 years old. He now lives in Hong Kong.[3]

Nägelein speaks both German and English. Although his mother is Hongkongese prior to playing for Shenzhen Ruby, he did not speak Cantonese and Mandarin. While living in Shenzhen, his aunt taught him Cantonese, and his former teammate Tiago Jorge Honório taught him Mandarin.[13]

References
  1. 安迪·内格雷恩 is the name was transcription by Andy Nägelein in Mandarin
  2. 期待披上港足戰衣──訪深圳隊港德混血中場聶凌峰（上） (in Chinese). Ta Kung Pao. 25 April 2010. Archived from the original on 30 May 2010.
  3. Linner, Albert (10 January 2011). "Aus Andy wird Nie Ling Fung" (in German). Süddeutsche Zeitung. Retrieved 30 September 2012.
  4. "Two more signings for Wacker". Deutsche Fußball Liga. 1 February 2007. Archived from the original on 12 February 2007.
  5. Siemens, Sören (9 May 2009). "22 Stunden Busfahrt - 90 Minuten Fußball" (in German). oz-online.de. Retrieved 30 September 2012.
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  8. "ΠΕΠ ΠΙΤΣΙΛΙΑΣ – ANDY HANNES LING FUNG NAGELEIN" (in Greek). Cyprus Football Association. Archived from the original on 14 August 2011.
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  32. 湖南湘涛最新引援消息 Archived 22 December 2014 at the Wayback Machine at hnxiangtao.com 2014-02-27 Retrieved 2014-02-27(in Chinese)
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  39. "Hong Kong 0-4 UAE match summary". afc.com. 15 October 2013.
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