Jiangsu Sainty Football Club (Chinese: 江苏舜天; pinyin: Jiāngsū Shùntiān) is a professional Chinese football club based in Nanjing, who currently participates in the Chinese Super League while playing their home matches in the 60,000 seater Nanjing Olympic Sports Center. The team was originally founded in 1958 as Jiangsu Provincial Team while the current professional football team was established on March 28, 1994. They were also one of the founding members of the first fully professional 1994 Chinese league season, however they would struggle within the league until they won premotion back into the top tier at the end of the 2008 league season. From then on they would go on to achieve their best ever league position when they came fourth at the end of the 2011 Chinese Super League season.
[edit] History
The club was originally founded in April 1958 as Jiangsu Provincial Team by the local government and would take part in the 1959 National Games of the People's Republic of China where they came twelfth. They would then join the top tier of the gradually expanding Chinese football league system in 1960 where they came nineteenth out of a possible twenty-five.[1] By 1963 the league had expanded to thirty-nine teams and the Chinese Football Association were looking to only have twenty teams for next seasons league system. Jiangsu would unfortunately finish seventh within the group stages, which saw them relegated from the league system.[2] In 1964 they would not take part in any of the divisions but returned to play in the second tier in 1965 where they came seventh in the group stages.[3] The Chinese Cultural Revolution would see the league halted for several seasons but when it officially returned in 1973 Jiangsu would enter the league back into the top tier where they finished the league in eleventh.[4] Jiangsu's time in the top tier did not last very long and by the 1978 league season they would find themselves relegated to the second division at the end of the season.[5] For the next several years Jiangsu would remain a second tier club except for a brief period in 1988, however in 1992 they would have brief revival when they won the second tier title and guaranteed premotion to the first fully professional 1994 league season nomatter what would happen in the 1993 league season.[6]
On March 28, 1994 the club would gain sponsorship and change their name to Jiangsu Maint to comply with the requirements to take part in the first fully professional 1994 Chinese league season, however they would struggle with professionalism on and off the field, first they would be relegated at the end of the season and then due to the stricter operational costs the club would financially struggle before losing their sponsorship.[7] They would, however gain some financial support from several major Chinese businesses such as Jiangsu TV, Jinling Petrochemical Company benzene plant, several Jiangsu tobacco companies as well as some international investment companies came in 1996, while the club changed their name to Jiangsu Jiajia to represent this. Even though Jiangsu were able to gain some financial stability they were still relegated to the third tier at the end of the 1996 league season but only spent one season in there after they won the division league title in 1997.[8] On January 7, 2000 the Jiangsu Sainty International Group decided to take over the club and changed the clubs name to Jiangsu Sainty.[9] The new owners would not get off to the best of starts when it was discovered they were unable to control some of their players and coaches from taking bribes, a game in the 2001 league season against Chengdu Wuniu where they lost 4-2 was highlighted and the offending participants were banned for a year while the club had three months to reform and re-apply for a CFA playing license.[10] After promissing to clean-up the club the team would linger in the second second tier for several years until they brought in Pei Encai to manage the team and win the division title at the end of the 2008 league season.[11]
- 1958-93: Team of Jiangsu Province (江苏省代表队)
- 1994-95: Jiangsu Maint (江苏迈特)
- 1995: Jiangsu FC (江苏队)
- 1996-00: Jiangsu Jiajia (江苏加佳)
- 2000-: Jiangsu Sainty (江苏舜天)
[edit] Home Stadium
Jiangsu Sainty has been playing its game at Nanjing Olympics Stadium since 2006 after playing at Wutaishan Stadium for nearly 30 years. The Nanjing Olympics Stadium, which seats 62,000 people, is the most capacious stadium in Nanjing city. It was completed in 2005 for 10th Chinese National Games. Nanjing Olympics Stadium is a big part of Nanjing Olympic Sports Center that located 7 kilometers southwest to Nanjing downtown.
[edit] Results
- As of the end of 2011 season
All-Time League rankings
| Season |
1960 |
1961 |
1962 |
1963 |
1965 |
1973 |
1974 |
1976 |
1977 |
1978 |
1979 |
1980 |
1981 |
1982 |
1983 |
1984 |
1986 |
1987 |
1988 |
1989 |
1990 |
1991 |
1992 |
1993 |
| Division |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
| Position |
19 |
10 1 |
19 |
7 1 |
7 1 |
11 |
21 |
9 1 |
15 |
14 |
10 |
7 |
12 |
7 |
13 |
7 1 |
4 |
5 |
14 |
5 |
5 |
6 |
1 2 |
5 1 |
| Season |
1994 |
1995 |
1996 |
1997 |
1998 |
1999 |
2000 |
2001 |
2002 |
2003 |
2004 |
2005 |
2006 |
2007 |
2008 |
2009 |
2010 |
2011 |
2012 |
| Division |
1 |
2 |
2 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
| Position |
12 |
7 |
12 |
1 |
4 |
9 |
3 |
5 |
5 |
4 |
6 |
5 |
6 |
3 |
1 |
10 |
11 |
4 |
|
no league game in 1959, 1966–1972, 1975; Jiangsu did not compete in 1964;
- ^1 in group stage
- ^2 promote to 1994 Jia-A league
[edit] Current squad
As of 5 March 2012[12]
[edit] First team
Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
[edit] Reserve squad
Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
[edit] Coaching staff
Source: Sina.com
[edit] Former managers
[edit] Notable players
[edit] References
[edit] External links
Liu Jun 刘军
Dragan Okuka
Current season
