Beijing Institute of Technology F.C.

College football

In 2000 Beijing Institute of Technology (BIT), a co-educational public university established an amateur football team to participate in the Chinese University Football League (CUFL, Simplified Chinese: 中国大学生足球联赛) after they separated from high school football team Beijing Yicheng BTV Sangao. The club would have an annual budget of 100,000 Yuan with financial support coming from school grants, donations and corporate sponsorship. The players were paid 400 Yuan a mouth as nominal allowance while continuing with their studies. The clubs recruitment policey saw them particularlly scout youth players wishing to continue their education, however Beijing Yicheng BTV Sangao would ultimately be the main source of their first roster.

After making their debut in the 2001 Chinese Collegiate championship the club went on to win the 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2006 championships. With this success the team were invited by the Chinese Football Association to represent China in the 2003 Summer Universiade Games where they placed seventh. Professional coach Jin Zhiyang was initially brought in for the tournament, however once they championship ended he decided to stay on and publicly declared that this club should be participating within the Chinese national leagues. After participating within the 2005 Summer Universiade Games BIT decided to participate at the bottom of the Chinese league pyramid in the third tier. In their debut season of the 2006 China League Two division their roster consisted of 30 players that had eight graduate students and 22 university students, a statistic that the club would proudly proclaim made them the best educated team in Chinese history.

Professional football

On 2 November 2006 BIT beat Harbin Yiteng 3–0 to win the division championship and gained promotion to the second tier of Chinese football. The promotion drew great attention in the nation, because it was the first time a team consisting of full-time college students won such a promotion. Concerns were raised regarding the impact that professional football will have on the students and whether a university should allow its sports team to participate in a professional league. The CFA would allow the club to participate within the league after giving them special dispensation despite failing to move to a 20,000 seater stadium required for all professional football teams within the league. The club would comply with the other requirements of professionalism when the owners had to register all the players as footballers rather than students and increased their wages to 1000 Yuan a mouth. Sponsorship was required to help pay for running costs which had risen to 15 million Yuan a year. Their first sponsors were Beijing Huaqi Information Digital Technology Co., Ltd. who signed a two-year sponsorship contract worth 6 million Yuan over two years. With the new sponsor the club changed their name to Beijing Patriotic Students and finished the league campaign in 11th.

In the 2008 league season Beijing Huaqi Information Digital Technology Co., Ltd. decided to change the clubs name to Beijing Aigo to reflect their ownership of the Aigo brand. The following season the club signed a new one year sponsorship for 3 million Yuan, which changed the clubs name to Beijing Guirenniao. When this sponsorship ended at the beginning of the 2010 league season the club would be in a financial precarious situation that required the Beijing Sports Bureau to step in with a 400 million Yuan investment. The departure of Cao Xiandong as coach further exasperated the situation and Zhang Ning was appointed to help the club avoid relegation. After avoiding relegation at the beginning of the 2011 league season the club were able to regain a sponsorship contract with sports manufacturer 361 ° International Limited for 5.5 million Yuan, which resulted in a change of name to Beijing 361 ° Students. Throughout this the club have continued to further move into the realms of professionalism with the inclusion of professional foreign imports such as Dutch-born Raphael Maitimo, however the club would still stick to their Collegiate roots by competing within the 2011 Summer Universiade and even 2015 Summer Universiade games despite the exclusions of many of their fully professional players as well as the significant shift of ownership with Xinyuan Real Estate becoming their second largest shareholder on 9 April 2015.

Name history

2000 – 2006 Beijing Institute of Technology Football Club 北京理工大学足球俱乐部

2007 Beijing Patriots Students Football Team 北京爱国者大学生足球队

2008 Beijing Aigo College Student Football Team 北京爱国者大学生足球队

2009 Beijing Guirenniao Student Football Team 北京贵人鸟大学生足球俱乐部

2010 Beijing Institute of Technology Football Club 北京理工大学足球俱乐部

2011 Beijing 361 ° Students Football Team 北京361°大学生足球俱乐部

2012–Present Beijing Institute of Technology Football Club 北京理工大学足球俱乐部

Current squad

As of 22 March 2016

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

Honours

China League Two (Third Tier League)

2006

China University Championship

2001/02, 2002/03. 2003/04, 2005/06, 2010/11, 2012/13, 2013/14, 2014/15

All-time CUFL League Rankings

As of the end of 2016 season.

^1 in Final round group stage
^2 did not enter the final stage
^3 in the Senior Zone.

All-time Professional League Rankings

As of the end of 2016 season.

^1 In group stage.

Key