Career
Li Zhihai would join second tier club senior team at the beginning of the 2002 league season and would steadily establish himself as a regular within the squad. The following season he would lead Guangzhou to a 7th-place finish at the end of the 2008 league season despite missing much of the campaign through injury. The next season saw Li Zhihai miss eight games due to suspension after he fought with Tianjin Teda F.C. player Éber Luís Cucchi during a June 25, 2008 league game.
After missing much of the 2008 league season through suspension Li Zhihai would once again struggle with injury through much of the 2009 league season and lose the captaincy to Xu Liang.
At the end of the season the club would be relegated after it was discovered that the club had fixed a match during the 2007 league campaign, despite this Li Zhihai would stay with the club to help in their push for promotion. Li was promoted to the team captain in this season.
However, he was suspected by the club to involve in match-fixing after his disastrous performance in a league match which Guangdong played against Shanghai East Asia in September. Although Li claimed that the charge was without evidence, he was released by Guangdong at the end of the season.
In April 2012, after spending a brief time in Macau"s Campeonato da 1ª Divisão do Futebol club Lam Ieng, Li moved to China League Two club Shenzhen Main on a free transfer.
He was lined up in his first returning match and insured a 2-0 away victory against Beijing Baxy on 23 June. However, he was dropped from the first team again in July. Li was signed by Campeonato da 1ª Divisão do Futebol club Chao Pak Kei in January 2013.
He made his debut for Chao Pak Kei in a 5–0 home defeat against Lam Ieng on 20 January.
He returned to Guangdong Sunray Cave again in February. Li retired in the end of 2013 season and became the assistant coach of Guangdong Sunray Cave.
