Chen Zhizhao started his football career playing for Shanghai Shenhua's youth academy; however, he was unable to break into their first team.

[2] His following goals would come in the Hong Kong FA Cup where he scored against Eastern AA on 10 May 2008 in a semifinal game that saw them win 1-0.

[4] Chen moved back to mainland China and signed a five-year contract with Nanchang Hengyuan (now known as Shanghai Shenxin) on 26 February 2009.

He scored ten goals and assisted eight times in thirty appearances which secured Nanchang's stay in the top flight for the next season.

[8] He didn't make any appearances for the club in the 2011 season and instead played for Panyu Pearl, a futsal team in his hometown.

On 11 March 2013, Chen was called up to the Chinese national team by then manager José Antonio Camacho to be a part of the squad that would face Iraq during 2015 AFC Asian Cup qualification.

[14] He scored his first goal for the club on 21 August 2016 by shooting the winner in the 87th minute against Chongqing Lifan, which gave Guangzhou R&F a 5–4 away win.