20 of the best foreign players to have played in the Chinese Super League

11 – Papiss Cisse

Cisse is a record holder in Germany

Papiss Demba Cisse kicked off his senior career at Senegalese club AS Douanes Dakar. He had a hugely prolific season for them, managing to find the back of the net 23 times in just 26 appearances. The striker then moved to French team Metz, from where he was loaned out to Cherbourg and Chateauroux. In December of 2009, he secured a permanent deal with German Bundesliga side SC Freiburg. In the 2010/11 season Cisse scored 22 goals, which was a single-season goal record by a Freiburg player, as well as the record for the most goals scored by an African in a single Bundesliga season.

After three seasons in Germany, the Senegalese international made a move to Newcastle United. He spent four years at Saint James’ Park, making 117 appearances for the club and scoring 37 goals in that time. In July 2016 Chinese Super League club Shandong Luneng announced that they signed Cisse for an undisclosed fee. He has made 7 appearances for the club and has two goals to his name.