Chinese police have detained a taxi driver who attacked two young soccer players with a knife after they refused to clean up vomit in his cab after a night out.

Wang Lin, a 22-year-old former striker from relegated Chinese Super League club Xiamen, was unconscious in hospital in Shenyang, capital of the northeastern province of Liaoning, after surgery for multiple stab wounds.

His friend Cao Chen, a former China youth international, was also injured but has been discharged from hospital.