Zhejiang Yiteng F.C.


Zhejiang Yiteng Football Club, or Yiteng Football Club is a professional Chinese football club that participates in the China League Two division under licence from the Chinese Football Association. The team is based in Shaoxing, Zhejiang and their home stadium is the Shaoxing City Sports Centre Stadium that has a seating capacity of 20,000. Their majority shareholder is Cui Yi and the Yiteng Group.
They were founded as an amateur team in 1988 and called Dalian Tielu. They took part in China's national leagues before becoming a professional team when the Yiteng Group gained ownership of the club. After years of stagnation the club was moved to Harbin where they have since predominantly remained and gained their first silverware, which was the 2011 China League Two title. Since then, they gradually improved their league standing and gained promotion to China's top tier when they came second within the 2013 China League One division.

History

In April 1988 the club was established as Dalian Tielu and soon joined the Chinese national leagues at the bottom of the pyramid in the third tier at the beginning of the 1989 league season. After the team's debut performance the club's appearances within the national leagues became sporadic because they were an amateur team at a time when the league was being restructured as a fully professional unit. When professionalism arrived to the Chinese leagues in the 1994 league season, the club had started being funded by the Yiteng Group on February of that year. The funding helped to establish them as semi-professional unit and then soon after a fully professional team in the third division. Xu Yin and Cheng Xianfei were appointed as joint managers. They came third in the league and were promoted to the second tier.
The club's time in the second tier was not a success and at the end of the 1995 league season they finished tenth in the league and were relegated back into the third division. The Yiteng Group took full control of the club in 1996, and by the following season merged the team with local lower league rivals Dalian Shunfa. With the merger the owners were hoping for promotion and by the 1999 league campaign they believed that they had assembled a squad capable of achieving this. They did not reach the division play-offs that season because Mianyang Fenggu had exactly the same points and goal difference as them after the last-placed odd number team was taken out of the equation. The Chinese Football Association decided that the only way to settle the issue was that the two teams should draw lots to see who would qualify for the play-offs, however the club lost. The chairman Cui Yi and the Yiteng Group were so aggrieved that they decided to pull out of the competition the following season and sold their squad to Dalian Shide F.C. for 8 million Yuan.
After the Yiteng Group had formed significant business ties within Harbin, Heilongjiang, Cui Yi decided that it was a good time for the club to re-enter the national leagues on December 20, 2005. They registered with the Chinese FA the new name of the club called Harbin Yiteng and took part at the bottom of the Chinese pyramid in the third tier for the start of the 2006 Chinese league two division. The club moved in the 30,000 capacity Hagongda Stadium and they quickly won promotion at the end of the season after coming runners-up to Beijing Institute of Technology FC. The club struggled in the division and had a Chinese record sixteen game winless streak, however the team were able to avoid relegated that season. They moved to Yantai in Shandong on March 2008 and played in the 45,000 capacity Yantai Sports Park Stadium. They also replaced their red kit with a new all-blue outfit, however the changes did not work and they were relegated at the end of the 2008 league season. They briefly moved back to Dalian until April 1, 2011 when they returned to Harbin where their fortunes changed and they won their first championship, the 2011 China League Two division, and promotion back into the second division. Under Duan Xin reign as manager Harbin continued their good form in the second tier and at the end of the 2013 league season he would guide the club to second within the division and promotion to the top tier for the first time in their history.
At the start of the start of the 2014 Chinese Super League, former assistant Wang Helong was promoted to Head coach while Duan Xin remained as manager. The club started in the Chinese Super League with a nine-game losing streak. It ended on the 4 May 2014 when they beat local rivals Changchun Yatai 3–1 to claim their first top flight win, thanks to goals from Dori, Han Deming and Ricardo Steer. On 19 July 2014 Marijo Tot was brought in as the new head coach, however he was unable to reverse the club's fortunes and the team were relegated at the end of the season.
Yiteng F.C. moved to Shaoxing and changed their name as Zhejiang Yiteng F.C. in the 2016 season. In October 2018, when Yiteng back to Harbin and play with Heilongjiang F.C., they experienced a horrible treatment from fans. People called them "go back to Dalian""idiots", and game result end with 1:1. In January 2019, they relegated to the third-tier after failing to apply a League One license, despite finishing 12th in the last season.
One thing needs to be mentioned, the club press officer Yuhao Zhang plays an important role in team management. He always stands out to fight people who against Yiteng and already became the core value of team diplomacy.

Ownership and naming history

Current squad

As of 15 July 2019

Reserve squad

As of 15 July 2018

Coaching staff

Managerial history

Information correct as of end of 2015 league season.
All-time League Rankings
YearTierCupAsiaAvg league attStadium
198935NHDNQDalian Locomotive stadium
199135DNQDNQDalian Locomotive stadium
1994383502015+563NHDNQDalian Locomotive stadium
199522264122036−162210DNQDNQDalian Locomotive stadium
19963300347−304DNQDNQDalian Locomotive stadium
19973310255033DNQDNQDalian Locomotive stadium
199833DNQDNQDalian Locomotive stadium
1999310352118+3143DNQDNQDalian Locomotive stadium
20063169522616+10322DNQDNQHagongda Stadium
200722447131836+181912NHDNQHagongda Stadium
200822451092835−72513NHDNQCity Sports Centre
20093124261715+2145NHDNQLiaoning Normal University
20103219662822+6274NHDNQLiaoning Normal University
20113191423389+2936WDNQDNQHarbin ICE Sports Center
2012230136115343+10454R2DNQ4,002Harbin ICE Sports Center
201323018665529+26602R3DNQ6,540Harbin ICE Sports Center
201413056193556−212116R3DNQ26,126Harbin ICE Sports Center
201523011145433112475R2DNQ20,477Harbin ICE Sports Center
2016230115143949−103813R2DNQ2,351Shaoxing China Textile City Sports Center
201723088143546−113213R2DNQ4,005Shaoxing China Textile City Sports Center
2018230107134353−103712R3DNQ3,730Shaoxing China Textile City Sports Center
2019330125133441−74116R3DNQShaoxing China Textile City Sports Center

Yiteng didn't compete in 1990, 1992–1993 and 2000–2005.
Key


Had international caps for their respective countries.
Asia