Hunan Billows F.C.

Hunan Billows
Húnán Xiāngtāo
湖南湘涛
Full name Hunan Xiangtao Football Club
湖南湘涛足球俱乐部
Founded 26 December 2006 (2006-12-26) (official)
15 January 2004 (unofficial)
Ground Yiyang Stadium,[1] China
Ground Capacity 30,000
Chairman Li Jingman
League China League Two
2016 League One, 16th (Relegated)

Hunan Billows Football Club (simplified Chinese: 湖南湘涛; traditional Chinese: 湖南湘濤; pinyin: Húnán Xiāngtāo) is a professional Chinese football club that participates in the China League Two division under licence from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The team is based in Yiyang, Hunan and their home stadium is the 30,000-seat Yiyang Stadium. Their majority shareholders are the Hunan Provincial Sports Bureau and high-tech industry company Hunan Corun New Energy Co. Ltd.

The club was founded on January 15, 2004 as Hunan Xiangjun to take part in the second tier at the beginning of the 2004 Chinese football league season. After three seasons the club was relegated and faced financial difficulties. To preserve the representation of Hunan province in the Chinese football league pyramid, fans of the club raised three million Yuan in the hopes of keeping the team going. The local Hunan government sports body decided that it would be best to invest on a brand new team for the area and formed a new club called Hunan Billows (Simplified Chinese: 湖南湘军) on December 26, 2006. The reformed club won the 2009 Chinese League Two title and promotion to the Chinese League One division where they have since remained.

History

Formation

Before the start of the 2004 Chinese football league season, Chongqing Lifan and Yunnan Hongta merged their football clubs together. This left a free space available in the second division. The surplus players from the clubs formed a new club called Hunan Xiangjun (or Hunan Shoking Football Club in English). They gained investment from the Hunan Corun New Energy Co. Ltd., which bought the club's registration into the division for 20 million Yuan.[2] On January 15, 2004, the club was inaugurated into the Chinese football league. They hired former Chinese Olympic medalist Xiong Ni as their Chairman and former Chinese international footballer Zhu Bo as their first manager. Playing in the 55,000-seat Helong Stadium in Changsha, the club had international players - Fu Bin and Srđan Bajčetić - while the youth team called Xiangxue Pharmaceutical participated in the 2004–05 Hong Kong First Division League to gain experience.[3] The youth team had limitless success. The senior team fared little better and struggled in their debut season. They finished tenth at the end of the season.[4]

The following season was extremely difficult for the club, Miloš Hrstić came in as manager but had an extremely high profile dispute with the owners about unpaid wages. It was soon discovered that the club were in financial difficulties due to an excessive wage bill for their players along with renting of Helong Stadium.[5] The ownership of the club moved to the company Bailong and their general manager Sun Yingui for a brief period. However this was short-lived and Hunan Corun took over the club again. While this was going on Li Hui was managing the side with little success. He and his players reached a breaking point after a humiliating 5–1 defeat to Shanghai International on June 18, 2005 in a Chinese FA Cup game. Li Hui publicly criticized his players' lack of commitment before deciding to leave the club.[6] Wang Tao was brought in as his replacement to manage the club. The team finished in a disappointing twelfth but remained in the league.[7] Li Kejia was brought in as a new manager in the 2006 league season. The team continued to lose, and former Chinese international Hao Haidong was brought in as a General manager to help inspire the team. This turned out to be fruitless and the club finished at the bottom of the league and were relegated to the third tier.[8]

Reformation

To preserve the representation of Hunan province in the Chinese football league pyramid, fans of the club raised three million Yuan in the hopes of keeping the team going before the local Hunan Provincial Sports Bureau decided that it would be best to invest in a new team for the area.[9] On December 26, 2006, a new team was formed to participate in the 2007 league season called Hunan Xiangtao (or Hunan Billows Football Club in English) despite Xiong Ni returning as their Chairman and Li Kejia returning as their manager.[10] Now playing within the 6,000-seat Hunan Provincial People's Stadium. The team was completely rebuilt and played their first league game against Sichuan FC in a 1–0 defeat.[11] Throughout the season the club's results improved and the team finished third in the Southern division. They made the play-offs but were knocked out in the second round.[12] With a further investment of six million Yuan from the local Hunan government sports body, in the following season results the club gained another play-off position. Again they were knocked out in the second round.[13] By the 2009 league season and with the continued investment of the local Hunan government sports body and of the management of Men Wenfeng, the club won the division title after they beat local rivals Hubei Greenery in the play-off final to win the division title.[14] In the second tier again they moved back into the Helong Stadium and hired Zhao Faqing as their new manager at the beginning of the 2010 league season. The season began well for the club and they looked like genuine promotion contenders. Conflicts between the Hunan and the Hubei Greenery fans during their May 14 game seemed to derail their promotion push. They finished the season in sixth.[15] The next season they moved into the 20,000-seat Central South University Stadium and brought in Miloš Hrstić to manage them. Miloš Hrstić's leadership improved the team's ranking at the end of the 2011 league season slightly - they finished fourth. He left the club at the end of the season and was replaced by his assistant coach Zhang Xu.[16] In preparation for the 2012 league season the club brought in several high profile players such as Honduras internationals Emil Martínez and Erick Norales and Chinese international Dong Fangzhuo in their hopes to win promotion.[17] The recruitment for not result in promotion that season, but it brought an increase in investment in from the Hunan Liuyang River Wine Winery Industry Co., Ltd., Zoomlion Company Limited, Central South Publishing & Media Group Co., Ltd., Kelme and the return of Hunan Corun New Energy co. ltd.[18]

Hunan Billows FC football shirt in 2016

Name history

Crest history

Grounds

The team have played in several stadiums throughout their history. When they were formed they predominantly used the 55,000-seat Helong Stadium in Changsha for their important matches. The more modest 6,000-seat Hunan Provincial People's Stadium which is also located in Changsha was used for their smaller games.[19] With the club in financial difficulties the cost of renting the Helong Stadium led the team to move permanently into the Hunan Provincial People's Stadium. They started there when the club was reformed and they were playing in the third tier. When they won promotion back into the second tier, the Helong Stadium was an option for a brief period before 2011 when they have predominantly used the 20,000-seat Central South University Stadium in Changsha as their main stadium.[20]

Current squad

As of 4 march 2016 [21]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player
1 China GK Deng Zihao
2 China DF Ji Zhengyu
3 China DF Zhou Tanwei
4 China DF Cao Huan
5 Slovenia MF Rok Elsner
6 China DF Kong Tao
7 China FW Chen Zijie
8 China MF Yang Ke
9 Colombia FW Luis Carlos Cabezas
11 China FW Li Xiang
13 China FW Wang Chen
14 Israel FW Toto Tamuz
16 China MF Xie Weichao
17 China DF Li Zhaonan
No. Position Player
18 China DF Qin Peng
19 China GK Dong Jianhong
20 China FW Liu Xinyu
21 China DF Cao Guodong
22 China DF Liu Yusheng
23 China DF Liu Qing
25 China DF Sun Guoliang
28 China MF Wang Haozhi
30 China GK Wang Peng
31 China DF Liu Shuai
32 China DF Hao Shuang
33 China DF Yao Jiangshan
42 China DF Wang Yuyang
45 Chinese Taipei MF Chen Chao-an

Reserve squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player
10 Colombia MF Jhon Valoy
27 China MF Yuan Lu
29 China FW Xue Yuan
44 China FW Qiu Lingfeng
43 China DF Zhong Zhenlong
46 China MF Chen Qi
48 China FW Liu Peilin
No. Position Player
49 China MF Wang Yuxuan
51 China DF He Kaiwen
52 China MF Yao Xilong
53 China GK Zhai Bin
54 China FW Sheng Chunlin
66 China MF Xie Chengguang

Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player
China MF Hao Shuai (at Shanghai JuJu Sports until 31 December 2016)

Coaching staff

Position Staff
Head coach Slovenia Tomaž Kavčič
Fitness coach Slovenia Robert Englaro
Assistant coach China Tu Quanxin
Goalkeeping Coach China Yang Guidong
Fitness coach China Huang Cheng
Team Physician China Ren Peilin
China Yang Junchao

Source: sina.com

Managerial history

Hunan Xiangjun

Hunan Billows

  • China Li Kejia 26 December 2006 – 2008
  • China Men Wenfeng 2009
  • China Zhao Faqing 2009–19 December 2009
  • Croatia Miloš Hrstić 19 December 2009 – 1 November 2011
  • China Zhang Xu 1 November 2011 – 11 December 2012
  • Croatia Dražen Besek 11 December 2012 – 25 July 2013
  • China Huang Cheng (Caretaker) 25 July 2013 – 27 November 2014
  • Bulgaria Aleksandar Stankov 27 November 2014 – 2 May 2015
  • China Zhang Xu (caretaker) 2 May 2015 – 6 August 2015
  • Republic of Macedonia Žikica Tasevski 6 August 2015 – 1 November 2015
  • Slovenia Tomaž Kavčič 30 November 2015–28 May 2016
  • China Huang Xiangdong (caretaker) 25 May 2016 –

Honours

Winners (1) : 2009

Results

All-time league rankings

Year Div Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Pos. FA Cup Super Cup AFC Att./G Stadium
20042 32 7 10 15 34 51 −17 31 14 R1 DNQ DNQ Xiangtan City Sports Center / Helong Stadium / Hunan Provincial People's Stadium
2005 2 26 5 4 17 24 56 −32 19 12 R2 DNQ DNQ Helong Stadium / Liuyang City Sports Center
2006 2 24 2 9 13 16 33 −17 15 13 R1 DNQ DNQ Helong Stadium
2007 3 14 5 4 5 15 16 −1 16 1 8[24] NH DNQ DNQ Hunan Provincial People's Stadium
2008 3 16 10 1 5 23 14 19 28 1 6[25] NH DNQ DNQ Hunan Provincial People's Stadium
2009 3 17 6 9 2 30 17 13 15 1 W NH DNQ DNQ Hunan Provincial People's Stadium
2010 2 24 10 5 9 21 24 −3 35 6 NH DNQ DNQ Hunan Provincial People's Stadium
2011 2 26 12 6 8 39 35 4 42 4 R1 DNQ DNQ Hunan Provincial People's Stadium / CSUFT East-Garden Stadium
2012 2 30 10 8 12 33 37 −4 38 11 R3 DNQ DNQ 6,970 CSUFT East-Garden Stadium / Hunan Provincial People's Stadium / Yiyang Olympic Sports Park Stadium
2013 2 30 7 9 14 27 40 −13 30 12 R3 DNQ DNQ 4,668 Yiyang Olympic Sports Park Stadium / Helong Stadium
2014 2 30 12 9 9 38 33 5 45 6 R3 DNQ DNQ 5,169 CSUFT East-Garden Stadium / Yiyang Olympic Sports Park Stadium
2015 2 30 8 5 17 32 48 −16 29 14 R2 DNQ DNQ 4,795 Yiyang Olympic Sports Park Stadium / Helong Stadium
2016 2 30 2 6 22 16 61 -54 12 16 R2 DNQ DNQ 3,781 Yiyang Olympic Sports Park Stadium
2017 3 DNQ DNQ Yiyang Olympic Sports Park Stadium

Key

  China top division
  China second division
  China third division
W   Winners
RU   Runners-up
3   Third place
  Relegated
  • Pld = Played
  • W = Games won
  • D = Games drawn
  • L = Games lost
  • F = Goals for
  • A = Goals against
  • Pts = Points
  • Pos = Final position
  • DNQ = Did Not Qualify
  • DNE = Did Not Enter
  • NH = Not Held
  •  – = Does Not Exist
  • R1 = Round 1
  • R2 = Round 2
  • R3 = Round 3
  • R4 = Round 4
  • F = Final
  • SF = Semi-finals
  • QF = Quarter-finals
  • R16 = Round of 16
  • Group = Group stage
  • GS2 = Second Group stage
  • QR1 = First Qualifying Round
  • QR2 = Second Qualifying Round
  • QR3 = Third Qualifying Round

References

  1. ↑ http://ent.voc.com.cn/article/201602/201602052156468460.html/
  2. ↑ ""足球湘军"加速本土化　海南猛练体能". sina.com.cn. 2004-01-27. Retrieved 2012-07-16.
  3. ↑ "Hongkong 2004/05". rsssf.com. 17 Nov 2005. Retrieved 2012-07-16.
  4. ↑ "China 2004". rsssf.com. 7 Apr 2005. Archived from the original on September 29, 2012. Retrieved 2012-07-16.
  5. ↑ "米罗西中国足球情结：与米卢亲密 拒绝假赌黑". sports.qq.com. 2010-11-29. Retrieved 2015-07-15.
  6. ↑ "湖南湘军失控足协杯惨败 主帅李辉黯然逃离(图)". sports.sohu.com. 2005-06-27. Retrieved 2012-07-16.
  7. ↑ "China 2005". rsssf.com. 26 Oct 2006. Archived from the original on September 29, 2012. Retrieved 2012-07-16.
  8. ↑ "郝海东出手收购湖南湘军(图)". sohu.com. 2006-07-18. Retrieved 2012-07-16.
  9. ↑ "球迷捐助300万重组湘军 湘涛俱乐部成立战中乙". sohu.com. 2007-01-24. Retrieved 2012-07-16.
  10. ↑ "熊倪倾情关注湖南足球 湘涛回家备战07乙级联赛". hnxiangtao.com. 2007-04-12. Retrieved 2012-07-16.
  11. ↑ "乙级联赛湘涛首战失利 0比1惜败给来访四川队". hnxiangtao.com. 2007-05-06. Retrieved 2012-07-16.
  12. ↑ "China 2007". rsssf.com. 18 Apr 2008. Archived from the original on October 17, 2012. Retrieved 2012-07-16.
  13. ↑ "湖南湘涛砸六百万冲甲". sina.com.cn. 2008-04-29. Retrieved 2012-07-16.
  14. 1 2 "China 2009". rsssf.com. 23 Apr 2010. Archived from the original on October 15, 2012. Retrieved 2012-07-16.
  15. ↑ "湘鄂球迷爆小规模冲突 不和谐因子去年已种下(图)". sports.sina.com.cn. 2010-05-14. Retrieved 2012-07-16.
  16. ↑ "China 2010". rsssf.com. 21 Jun 2012. Archived from the original on July 15, 2012. Retrieved 2012-07-16.
  17. ↑ "08中超足球先生马丁内斯加盟湖南湘涛". hnxiangtao.com. 2011-12-15. Retrieved 2012-07-16.
  18. ↑ "湘涛备战加一鞭子". epaper.voc.com.cn. 2013-01-08. Retrieved 2015-07-15.
  19. ↑ "Hunan Xiangtao FC". soccerway.com. Retrieved 25 December 2011.
  20. ↑ "Team's stadiums" (in Chinese). hnxiangtao.com , team website. Retrieved 25 December 2011.
  21. ↑ 2016中甲联赛湖南湘涛队完全名单 sports.sohu.com 2016-03-04 Retrieved 2016-03-04
  22. ↑ "China – List of Champions". rsssf.com. 20 March 2014. Archived from the original on July 4, 2014. Retrieved 7 May 2014.
  23. ↑ "湖南湘涛". sodasoccer.com. Retrieved 3 February 2014.
  24. ↑ 2007年中国足球协会乙级联赛决赛阶段比赛名次 fa.org.cn 2013-04-30 Retrieved 2016-03-04
  25. ↑ 2008年中国足球协会乙级联赛决赛阶段比赛名次 fa.org.cn 2013-04-30 Retrieved 2016-03-04

External links

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