Chongqing Liangjiang Athletic F.C.
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| Full name | Chongqing Lifan Football Club 重庆力帆足球俱乐部 | ||
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| Founded | 1995 | ||
| Ground | Chongqing Olympic Sports Center | ||
| Capacity | 58,680 | ||
| Chairman | Yin Mingshan (尹明善) | ||
| Manager | Chang Woe-ryong (张外龙) | ||
| League | Chinese Super League | ||
| 2015 | Chinese Super League, 8th | ||
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Chongqing Lifan (simplified Chinese: 重庆力帆; traditional Chinese: 重慶力帆; pinyin: Chóngqìng Lìfān) is a professional Chinese football club that currently participates in the Chinese Super League under licence from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The team is based in Chongqing and their home stadium is the Chongqing Olympic Sports Center that has a seating capacity of 58,680. They are owned by the Chongqing-based Lifan Group, which manufactures motorcycles, cars and spare parts.
The club was founded in 1995 and originally called Qianwei (Vanguard) Wuhan before making their debut in the newly developed fully professional Chinese football league system where they started in the third tier within the 1995 league season. They would quickly rise up to the top tier and experience their greatest achievement of winning the 2000 Chinese FA Cup and coming fourth within the league. In 2002, they came fourth place in the last season of the Asian Cup Winners' Cup. After these achievements they struggled to replicate the same success and experienced their first relegation from the top tier in the 2006 league season. After gaining promotion in 2008 back into the top tier they were unable to remain in the top flight and were relegated once more in the 2010 season. In 2014, they finished the season at the top of Chinese League One (tier 2) division and won promotion to the Chinese Super League again.
History
Formation
The club's predecessor was called Qianwei (Vanguard) and were originally created after Hubei FC and Wuhan Steelworks merged, which saw a free space available within the football league.[1] After gaining financial backing from Hubei investors the new club would take part in the recently developed fully professional Chinese football league system where in the 1995 campaign they would take part at the bottom of the Chinese league pyramid in the third tier and come fourth within the league as well as gaining promotion to the second division.[2] Within the second tier they would quickly gain significant funding from the Ministry of Public Security of the People's Republic of China and the Huandao Group, which in turn also saw the club change its name to Qianwei Huandao to represent this. With significant investment coming into the team they would buy several former Chinese internationals such as Feng Zhigang and Xu Tao as well as several further players from Wuhan Steelworks to strengthen the squad. This would quickly pay off and the club would win the second tier title and promotion into the top tier for the first time at the end of the 1996 league season.[3]
Chongqing
In the top tier the owners decided that the club needed to affiliate itself with a major reign and would decide to move nearby to Chongqing and into the Datianwan Stadium. This was followed by more Chinese internationals such as Jiang Feng and Han Jinming joining the team and ensuring the club stayed up at the end of the season. Ensuring that the club remain the only team within the reign the club would go on to merge and essentially take over lower league club Chongqing Hongyan the following season. This was then followed by a complete takeover of the entire club by the Lifan Group who bought the club for 55,800,000 yuan on 19 August 2000 and renamed the club Chongqing Lifan.[4] While all of this was happening the club's manager Lee Jang-Soo was ensuring that the club would gradually improve each successive season and provide the club with their greatest achievement of winning the 2000 Chinese FA Cup for the first time in the club's history.[5] Chongqing Lifan would then be eligible to enter their first continental competition when they competitied in the 2001–02 Asian Cup Winners' Cup and with Edson Tavares as their new manager he would lead the club to a semi-finals position where the club lost 0:2 to Anyang Cheetahs before ending the competition in fourth after losing to Al Sadd by penalty kicks after a 0:0 regular-time draw in a third-place final game.[6]
Merger with Yunnan Hongta
See also Yunnan Hongta
In the 2003 league season Chongqing Lifan had brought in Miloš Hrstić as their new coach, however his appointment was a disaster and the club was relegated at the end of the season.[7] With the club desperate to remain within the top tier they would buy Yunnan Hongta's registration and merge the clubs' senior teams together allowing Chongqing Lifan to remain in the top division. Surprisingly the club would actually profit from the merger when several of the surplus players from both teams would then go on to gain investment from the Hunan Corun Group and buy Chongqing Lifan's second division registration for 20,000,000 yuan to then form Hunan Xiangjun.[8] Back on the field the club would bring in Yu Dongfeng as their new manager in the 2004 league season, however because it was an expansion season the club would stagnate at the bottom of the league, safe in the knowledge that there was no relegation that season. With no relegation again in the 2005 league season there was no improvement within the team despite the change in management with Ma Lin coming in. With relegation reinstated in the 2006 league season the club brought in another change of management with Xu Hong, however for the third straight season in a row the club finished bottom of the league and were relegated at the end of the season.[9] The club would decide to bring in a new manager and hired from within with former player Wei Xin chosen. The move would pay-off when on his second season the club won promotion back into the top tier when Chongqing came second at the end of the 2008 league season.
Name history
- 1995: Qianwei (Vanguard) Wuhan (前卫武汉)
- 1995: Qianwei (Vanguard) FC (前卫俱乐部)
- 1996–98: Qianwei (Vanguard) Huandao (前卫寰岛)
- 1999–00: Chongqing Longxin (重庆隆鑫)
- 2000–02: Chongqing Lifan (重庆力帆)
- 2003: Chongqing Lifan Xinganjue (重庆力帆新感觉)
- 2004: Chongqing Qiche (重庆奇伡)
- 2005–present: Chongqing Lifan (重庆力帆)
Crest history
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Qianwei FC
1997 -
Qianwei Huandao, Chongqing Longxin
1998–2000 -
Chongqing Lifan
2000–
Rivalries
Throughout Chongqing Lifan's history they have built rivalrys with Sichuan Quanxing, Chengdu Blades and Chongqing F.C. whom they contested in the local Chongqing derby. The oldest of these rivalrys was against Sichuan Quanxing, which was formed when the club moved to the neighbouring province of Chongqing and effectively created a local derby.[10] With both clubs in the top tier representing two neighouring provinces, a fierce local rivaly would form that reached its peak on 12 November 2003 in a vital league game for both teams to avoid relegation, which saw Sichuan win 2–0 in a highly contentious game that saw Qiu Weiguo (邱卫国) from Chongqing and Marko Jovanović of Sichuan receive suspensions for their on-field behavior.[11] This rivalry would come to end when Sichuan declared themselves defunct at the end of the 2005 league season, however another Sichuan province club in Chengdu Blades soon took over the baton as local rivals.[12] This was ignited on 14 April 2007 in a home league game for Chongqing Lifan that saw Chengdu win 1–0 as both teams looked to win promotion into the top tier that season.[13] For several seasons these two clubs would fight in an intermitten rivalry until Chengdu were dissolved in 2015 after they faced financial differculties.[14]
The Chongqing derby was contested by Chongqing Lifan and Chongqing F.C. as a local inner city rivalry. Hostilities were immediately started with the formation of Chongqing F.C. in 2010 when their owners proclaimed that the formation of their club would produce a "healthy Chongqing" football environment for the sport within the province, a term that was seen as an insult directed at Chongqing Lifan who were relegated from the top flight that season.[15] After only one season both clubs would meet each other within the second division and had their first encounter in a league game with Chongqing F.C. playing at home as Chongqing Lifan won 4–1.[16] The return fixture would see violence break out between the two set of fans as the rivalry intensified between the clubs.[17] On 21 December 2013 the rivalry was cancelled when Chongqing F.C. was dissolved due to financial difficulties.[18]
Current squad
As of 1 march 2016 [19]
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Reserve squad
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Out on loan
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Coaching staff
| Position | Staff |
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| Head coach |  Chang Woe-Ryong
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| Assistant coaches |  Niu Hongli Wu Peng Liu Jinbiao
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| Goalkeeping coach | Wang Jun
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| Fitness coach | Yang Dexin
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| Team physician | Yin Xijun Zhang Jian
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Source: sina.com
Managerial history
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Honours
League
- Jia B Champions/China League One[22]
- Winners (2) : 1996, 2014
Cup
- Runner-up (1) : 2000
Youth
- U19 Adidas Youth League Champions
- Winners (1) : 2007
Results
- All-time league rankings
| Year | Div | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Pos. | FA Cup | Super Cup | League Cup | AFC | Other | Att./G | Stadium | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | 3 | 8 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 71 | 4 | DNQ | DNQ | – | ||||||||
| 1996 | 2 | 22 | 13 | 7 | 2 | 40 | 14 | 26 | 46 | W | R2 | DNQ | – | |||||
| 1997 | 1 | 22 | 8 | 5 | 9 | 28 | 28 | 0 | 29 | 5 | SF | DNQ | – | 27,727 | ||||
| 1998 | 1 | 26 | 8 | 8 | 10 | 29 | 29 | 0 | 32 | 7 | R3 | DNQ | – | 24,000 | ||||
| 1999 | 1 | 26 | 10 | 10 | 6 | 40 | 27 | 13 | 40 | 4 | R3 | DNQ | – | 17,231 | Datianwan Stadium | |||
| 2000 | 1 | 26 | 10 | 11 | 5 | 46 | 33 | 13 | 41 | 4 | W | RU | – | 16,615 | ||||
| 2001 | 1 | 26 | 7 | 10 | 9 | 24 | 27 | −3 | 31 | 11 | R2 | DNQ | – | CWC | 4 | 21,615 | ||
| 2002 | 1 | 28 | 10 | 11 | 7 | 28 | 25 | 3 | 41 | 6 | R1 | DNQ | – | 14,893 | ||||
| 2003 | 1 | 28 | 6 | 8 | 14 | 21 | 34 | −13 | 26 | 13 2 | SF | DNQ | – | 19,286 | ||||
| 2004 | 1 | 22 | 4 | 9 | 9 | 14 | 31 | −17 | 21 | 12 3 | R1 | NH | R1 | 15,727 | Datianwan Stadium Chongqing Olympic Sports Center | |||
| 2005 | 1 | 26 | 2 | 7 | 17 | 16 | 41 | −25 | 13 | 14 3 | R1 | NH | R2 | 5,731 | Yanghe Stadium | |||
| 2006 | 1 | 28 | 3 | 7 | 18 | 20 | 51 | −31 | 16 | 15 | R1 | NH | NH | 6,536 | ||||
| 2007 | 2 | 24 | 13 | 5 | 6 | 34 | 22 | 12 | 44 | 4 | NH | NH | NH | |||||
| 2008 | 2 | 24 | 12 | 7 | 5 | 34 | 19 | 15 | 43 | RU | NH | NH | NH | |||||
| 2009 | 1 | 30 | 7 | 8 | 15 | 27 | 51 | −24 | 29 | 16 4 | NH | NH | NH | 11,440 | Chongqing Olympic Sports Center | |||
| 2010 | 1 | 30 | 7 | 9 | 14 | 36 | 48 | −12 | 30 | 15 | NH | NH | NH | 11,433 | ||||
| 2011 | 2 | 26 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 30 | 35 | −5 | 33 | 8 | R2 | NH | NH | Yongchuan Sports Center | ||||
| 2012 | 2 | 30 | 12 | 9 | 9 | 50 | 45 | 5 | 45 | 5 | R3 | DNQ | NH | 4,043 | Fuling Stadium | |||
| 2013 | 2 | 30 | 17 | 5 | 8 | 45 | 27 | 18 | 56 | 4 | R3 | DNQ | NH | 2,725 | ||||
| 2014 | 2 | 30 | 17 | 10 | 3 | 60 | 24 | 36 | 61 | W | R3 | DNQ | NH | 13,254 | Chongqing Olympic Sports Center | |||
| 2015 | 1 | 30 | 9 | 8 | 13 | 37 | 52 | −15 | 35 | 8 | R4 | DNQ | NH | 37,595 | ||||
- ^1 In final group stage.
- ^2 Merged with Yunnan Hongta so that the club could stay at top level.
- ^3 No relegation.
- ^4 Two Super League clubs were involved in match-fixing scandal and relegated to League One, so Chongqing could stay at top level.
Key
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References
- ^ "细数国内足坛三级跳 国足战略致大连德比迟到9年". Sina Corp. 15 October 2011. Retrieved 1 July 2015.
- ^ "China League 1995". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. 19 June 2003. Retrieved 1 July 2015.
- ^ "China League 1996". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. 19 June 2003. Retrieved 1 July 2015.
- ^ "重庆力帆". News.xinhuanet.com. 6 March 2009. Retrieved 1 July 2015.
- ^ "重庆球迷:哭过骂过仍爱力帆 足篮双冲造重庆荣光". Sports.qq.com. 19 October 2014. Retrieved 1 July 2015.
- ^ "Asian Club Competitions 2001/02". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. 21 February 2004. Retrieved 1 July 2015.
- ^ "China 2003". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. 22 February 2013. Retrieved 1 July 2015.
- ^ ""足球湘军"加速本土化 海南猛练体能". Sina Corp. 27 January 2004. Retrieved 1 July 2015.
- ^ "China 2006". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. 8 March 2007. Retrieved 1 July 2015.
- ^ "忆大田湾体育场历史瞬间 重庆足球衰败的写照". Sports.qq.com. 4 December 2012. Retrieved 1 July 2015.
- ^ "足协处罚：邱卫国停赛5场罚2万 马克停赛4场罚1万". Sina Corp. 14 November 2003. Retrieved 1 July 2015.
- ^ "成渝德比陷入沉寂 比赛平淡昔日恩怨早成回忆". Sports.qq.com. 29 April 2012. Retrieved 1 July 2015.
- ^ "China 2007". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. 18 April 2008. Retrieved 1 July 2015.
- ^ "成都天诚球队不在基地挣扎 球员当务之急找工作". Sports.people.com.cn. 26 January 2015. Retrieved 1 July 2015.
- ^ "垫底王力帆影响城市形象 重庆将组新球队征战乙级？". Sports.people.com.cn. 7 November 2010. Retrieved 6 July 2015.
- ^ "CHONGQING VS. CHONGQING LIFAN 4–1". Uk.soccerway.com. 31 March 2012. Retrieved 6 July 2015.
- ^ "Fights Break Out Before The Chongqing Derby". Wildeastfootball.net. 23 July 2012. Retrieved 6 July 2015.
- ^ "重庆FC宣布解散球员自寻下家 传解散因资金匮乏". Sports.sohu.com. 22 December 2013. Retrieved 6 July 2015.
- ^ "2016中超联赛重庆力帆队完全名单". sohu.com. 1 March 2016. Retrieved 1 March 2016.
- ^ "Chongqing Lifan » Manager history". worldfootball.net. Retrieved 16 April 2015.
- ^ "Chongqing Lifan Football Club". footballzz.co.uk. Retrieved 16 April 2015.
- ^ "China – List of Champions". rsssf.com. 5 November 2015. Retrieved 9 November 2015.
- ^ "China List of Cup Winners". rsssf.com. 2 September 2015. Retrieved 9 November 2015.
- ^ "China League History". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. 22 October 2009. Retrieved 28 July 2014.
- ^ "重庆力帆". sodasoccer.com. Retrieved 28 July 2014.
External links
- Chongqing Lifan website
- Lifan Thailand website