As an “amateur” footballer, I’m recovering from “professional” knee injuries since 2016, progressing well and now aiming to return to pitch in near future.
Fun fact 1: When people ask me to repeat my name in a phone call I always say “Fan, F-A-N, as in ‘football fan’ “. Yet in most cases they still think it is Sam.
Fun fact 2: I’m a fan of the English football club Arsenal and also a club Beijing Guo-An(国安) from my hometown. They have many in common:
- Both won quite a few domestic cup titles, not so many league titles, and none continental cup..
- Both from the capital cities.
- Both rank 1st in the league table alphabetically.
- Arsenal in English can also mean “a place where weapons and military equipments are stored“, whereas Guoan(国安) in Chinese can also be directly translated as “the Ministry of State Security”.
-update Jul. 2020:
After 10 months rehabilitation from the ACL (+ LCL) reconstruction by dr. R.P.A. Janssen, I finally returned to pitch earlier this month for casual football, during a very special (COVID19) time.
…mixed feelings…
-update Jul. 2023:
Farewell to my old teammates From Delft (2013-2018) and new mates from Eindhoven (2020-2023). Happy that before my departure, we won the Championship in Yuan’s Cup in Amstelveen on 8May, and the “Top Scorer” in BCU’s Cup in Antwerp on 25June.
Fan (张帆) Zhang 