Zibo Cuju F.C.

Zibo Cuju
淄博蹴鞠
	File:Zibo Sunday F.C. logo.png
Full name	Zibo Cuju Football Club; 淄博蹴鞠足球俱乐部
Founded	June 1982; 42 years ago
Ground	Zibo Sports Center Stadium, Zibo
Chairman	Song Jianshe (宋建设)
Manager	Hou Zhiqiang (侯志强)
League	China League Two
2019	League Two, 7th

Zibo Cuju Football Club (Chinese: 淄博蹴鞠足球俱乐部) is an amateur Chinese football club that currently participates in the China League Two. The team is based in Zibo.

History

Zibo Sunday was founded in June 1982 inspired by the 1982 FIFA World Cup. As the founders of the team mainly played football together on Sunday, they used Sunday as the club's name. They officially registered as an amateur club on 18 July 1996. Zibo Sunday finished the third place in the 2011 AFC Vision China Championship and won qualification for the 2012 Chinese FA Cup, which they lost to China League Two club Dongguan Nancheng 3–0.^[1] On 30 September 2017, Zibo Sunday won promotion to China League Two after they advanced to semi-final of 2017 China Amateur Football League by beating Lhasa Urban Construction Investment 1–0.^[2], and eventually, winning the entire Championship by beating Anhui Hefei Guiguan in the final. After competing in 2018 China League Two and ending up in a mid-table finish, Zibo Sunday F.C. changed their name to Zibo Cuju F.C. in January 2019^[3], stressing the significance of Zibo being the home of Cuju, a form of proto-football sport in ancient China.

Name history

1982–2018 Zibo Sunday S.C. 淄博星期天
2019– Zibo Cuju F.C. 淄博蹴鞠

Current squad

As of 12 July 2019^[4]

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


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
1	GK	CHN	Gong Linhui
3	DF	CHN	Yang Lei
4	DF	CHN	Zhao Chengle
5	DF	CHN	Guo Mingyue
6	FW	CHN	Gao Fei
7	MF	CHN	Li Zhongyi
8	MF	CHN	Ling Sihao
9	FW	CHN	Men Yang
10	FW	CHN	Cheng Yuan (on loan from Shandong Luneng)
11	MF	CHN	Xu Li'ao
12	DF	CHN	Song Hua
14	MF	CHN	Yang Jiawei (on loan from Jiangsu Suning)
15	MF	CHN	Li Wei
17	MF	CHN	Han Guanghui


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
18	FW	CHN	Ma Dongliang
19	MF	CHN	Zhang Fengyu
20	MF	CHN	Tian Xin
21	MF	CHN	Li Song
22	GK	CHN	Lin Xiang
29	DF	CHN	Du Yuxin
30	FW	CHN	Ji Shengpan (on loan from Shandong Luneng)
33	DF	CHN	Li Zhuangfei
35	MF	CHN	Wu Yue (on loan from Guangzhou Evergrande)
36	MF	CHN	He Tongshuai
37	MF	CHN	Liu Changqi
39	GK	CHN	Sun Qihang
40	DF	CHN	Xie Xiaofan (on loan from Jiangsu Suning)

Reserve squad

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


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
23	GK	CHN	Jiao Bo

Out on loan

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


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
—	DF	CHN	Si Xiao (at Shanxi Metropolis until 31 December 2019)
—	FW	CHN	Shen Tong (at Shanxi Metropolis until 31 December 2019)
—	MF	CHN	Sun Yi (at Shanxi Metropolis until 31 December 2019)


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
—	FW	CHN	Han Yuhao (at Baoding Yingli Yitong until 31 December 2019)
—	DF	CHN	Xia Xicheng (at Kunshan F.C. until 31 December 2019)

Coaching staff

Position	Staff
Head coach	Hou Zhiqiang
Assistant coach

Source: CFA

Managerial history

Liu Mengyang (2015)
Zhang Chonglai (2016)
Liu Meng (2017)
Hou Zhiqiang (2018–)

Results

All-time league rankings

As of the end of 2019 season.^[5]

Year	Div	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Pos.	FA Cup	Super Cup	AFC	Other		Att./G	Stadium
2011	4									DNQ¹	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	VCC ²	3
2012	4									DNQ¹	R1	DNQ	DNQ	VCC ²	3
2013	4									12	R1	DNQ	DNQ
2014	4									DNQ¹	R1	DNQ	DNQ
2015	4									DNQ¹	QR	DNQ	DNQ
2016	4									Group	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ
2017	4									W	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ				Zibo Sports Center Stadium
2018	3	28	12	5	11	38	32	6	41	19	R2	DNQ	DNQ			1,485
2019	3	30	22	3	5	60	13	47	69³	7	R4	DNQ	DNQ

^1 Did not qualify to the final stage. ^2 AFC Vision China Championship. ^3 In group stage.

Key

	China top division
	China second division
	China third division
	China fourth 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

^ "足协杯-东莞南城3–0淘汰淄博星期天次轮对阵松江". sina. 26 May 2012. Retrieved 16 October 2017.
^ "新历史!淄博星期天进中丙四强山东足球新增乙级队". sina. 30 September 2017. Retrieved 16 October 2017.
^ "关于淄博星期天足球俱乐部有限公司更名的公告". thecfa.cn (in Chinese). 2019-01-30. Retrieved 2019-01-30.
^ 2018中乙俱乐部报名表 fa.org.cn 2018-03-27 Retrieved 2018-03-28
^ "淄博星期天" (in Chinese). sodasoccer.com. Retrieved 16 October 2017.

[1] "足协杯-东莞南城3–0淘汰淄博星期天次轮对阵松江". sina. 26 May 2012. Retrieved 16 October 2017.

[2] "新历史!淄博星期天进中丙四强山东足球新增乙级队". sina. 30 September 2017. Retrieved 16 October 2017.

[3] "关于淄博星期天足球俱乐部有限公司更名的公告". thecfa.cn (in Chinese). 2019-01-30. Retrieved 2019-01-30.

[4] 2018中乙俱乐部报名表 fa.org.cn 2018-03-27 Retrieved 2018-03-28

[5] "淄博星期天" (in Chinese). sodasoccer.com. Retrieved 16 October 2017.

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