Short name YFC Website Club home page Manager Park Tae-ha Nickname(s) Baekdu Tiger | Ground Capacity 30,000 League Chinese Super League Founded 1994 Chairman Gong Zhijie | |
Full name Yanbian Football Club
延边富德足球俱乐部 2016 Chinese Super League, 9th Ground Yanji Nationwide Fitness Centre Stadium | ||
Yanbian FC (simplified Chinese: 延边富德; traditional Chinese: 延邊富德; pinyin: Yánbiān Fùdé) is a professional Chinese football club that currently participates in the Chinese Super League division under licence from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The team is based in Yanji, Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture, Jilin province where their home stadium is the Yanji Nationwide Fitness Centre Stadium that has a seating capacity of 30,000. Their current major investors are the Yanbian Sports Bureau and life insurance company Funde Holdings Group.
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The club's predecessor was originally called Jilin FC and they achieved one top tier domestic league title before 1994, when the club was reorganised to become a completely professional football unit. At the end of the 2000 league campaign the club was relegated from the top tier of Chinese football, however the club faced financial difficulties and sold the first team as well as the franchise to Zhejiang Lücheng. After the sale, the club assembled the reserve team and joined the third tier before they eventually gained promotion to the second tier in 2004.
History
In 1955 the local Jilin government sports body would form Jilin football club to take part in the recently expanded Chinese football league and built a team composed mostly of Koreans, taken from the large local Korean population. After predominantly establishing themselves as a top tier side the club achieved their first piece of silverware when they went on to win the 1965 league title. The Chinese Cultural Revolution unfortunately saw football in China halted and Jilin were unable to immediately defend their title until football returned in the 1973 league season where they finished seventh. The following seasons would see the club struggle within the league and spend several short spells within the second tier until at the end of the 1988 league season saw the Chinese Football Association restructure the league, which not only saw the club relegated but to the third tier.
After a brief period within the third tier the club would have a resurgence and win the 1990 division title as well as promotion back into the top division after coming second within the 1992 second tier and a guaranteed spot in China's first fully professional 1994 Chinese Jia-A League season. To conform to full professionalism they were allowed to be sponsored by Samsung and changed their name to Jilin Samsung Football Club. The club's foray into professionalism would see them gradually establish themselves within the division under the management of Li Huen. With a foundation to build on former South Korean Head coach Choi Eun-taek was brought into the team at the beginning of the 1997 league season and he immediately guided them to become title contenders with a fourth-place finish at the end of the season. Unfortunately the team were unable to build upon their previous seasons results and Choi Eun-taek left the club, which saw Gao Hui take over the team until the club experienced relegation in 2000. The demotion was taken exceptionally hard and the club had to sell their Chinese FA registration and entire first-team to Zhejiang Lücheng for 25 million Yuan. The following 2001 league campaign saw the club start at the bottom of the Chinese pyramid in the third tier with a team assembled from their former reserve squad. After taking time to gell the team would eventually come second within the 2004 season and win promotion into the second tier.
On February 18, 2013 The Chinese FA issued the club with a three-point deduction and a fine of CNY500,000 for accepting a bribe from Guangzhou Pharmaceutical F.C. to lose their June 3, 2006 eleventh round league game. The clubs officials would attempt to appeal the decision, but failed after the game in question had already seen Guangzhou fined and relegated for their involvement three years earlier in China's long running battle against match-fixing. The clubs manager at the time Gao Hui was already found to be guilty of facilitating the match-fixing and was given a three-year prison sentence on February 18, 2012.
Yanbian Baekdu Tigers changed their name to Yanbian Changbaishan on 8 February 2014. On the field the club struggled throughout the whole of the 2014 league season and finished 16th within the league, in the relegation zone. On 31 January 2015 second tier club Shaanxi Wuzhou unexpectedly failed to register for the 2015 league season due to wage arrears and was dissolved as a football club, which allowed Yanbian to remain within the division. With this reprieve insurance company Funde Holdings became interested in sponsoring the team and on 26 June 2015 signed a four-year sponsorship deal worth CNY80 million (US$12.9 million) with the club.
Current squad
As of 2 March 2017Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Reserve squad
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Honours
All-time honours list including semi-professional Jilin FC period.
League
Results
All-time league rankings
No league games in 1959, 1966–72, 1975; Jilin didn't compete in 1984
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