Hebei Football Club (simplified Chinese: 河北足球俱乐部; traditional Chinese: 河北足球俱樂部; pinyin: Héběi Zúqiú Jùlèbù) was a professional Chinese football club that participated in the Chinese Super League division under licence from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The team was based in Langfang, Hebei. The club was dissolved in March 2023.

According to Forbes, Hebei was the 7th most valuable football team in China, with a team value of $90 million, and an estimated revenue of $22 million in 2015.

History

Hebei Zhongji was founded on 28 May 2010 by the Hebei football association and Hebei Zhongji Group who promised to invest three million Yuan a season for next four campaigns. They registered to play within China League Two, third tier of the Chinese football league system, as Hebei Yilin Shanzhuang (Simplified Chinese: 河北依林山庄) for sponsorship reasons in the 2011 league season. They failed to advance into the Play-offs after finishing in 5th place in the group stage. On 17 October 2011, the cooperation relationship between Hebei FA and Hebei Zhongji Group was terminated and Hebei Zhongji Group took full ownership of the club while the players who were owned by Hebei FA split into a new team called Hebei Youth. In the 2012 league season, Hebei Zhongji finished in 1st place in the North Group with 18 wins, 5 draws and only 1 defeat, however they were knocked out in the quarter-finals of the Play-offs by Hubei China-Kyle with the score at 1–1, losing on the away goals rule. On 16 August 2013 Guo Ruilong was brought in to manage the team for the rest of the 2013 league season, however during his brief tenure at the club he quickly led them to promotion after finishing runners-up at the end of the campaign. Huang Yang was brought in to coach the team during the off season while on December 26, 2013, the club announced that Uruguayan Nelson Agresta would be the club's first foreign manager.

On 27 January 2015, they changed the team name to Hebei China Fortune (Simplified Chinese: 2013-04-01 at the Wayback Machine) after being purchased by China Fortune Land Development. Serbian manager Radomir Antić signed a three-year contract with the club on the same day. They changed the club name to Hebei China Fortune F.C. in December 2015 after winning promotion to Chinese Super League in the 2015 season. The club has since expanded its bid for league success by landing international stars such as Gervinho and Ezequiel Lavezzi. In August 2016, the Chilean Manuel Pellegrini became manager of the club, as part of a larger plan for Hebei China Fortune F.C. and Chinese football to make a great leap forward by the end of the decade. This process continued with the appointment of Chris Coleman on 10 June 2018.

Ownership and naming history

YearOwnerClub nameSponsored team name
2011Hebei Zhongji GroupHebei Zhongji Football ClubHebei Yilinshanzhuang
2012–2014
2015China Fortune Land DevelopmentHebei China Fortune
2016–2020Hebei China Fortune Football Club
2021–2022Hebei Football ClubHebei Football Club

Managerial history

NationalityManagerDurationDeparture reason
StartFinish
ChinaWei YuanhaoMay 28, 2010October 13, 2011Mutual consent
ChinaZhang YandongOctober 14, 2011August 15, 2013
ChinaGuo RuilongAugust 16, 2013December 3, 2013
ChinaHuang YangDecember 4, 2013December 25, 2013
UruguayNelson AgrestaDecember 26, 2013August 14, 2014Sacked
UruguayAlejandro LarreaAugust 14, 2014December 31, 2014Mutual consent
SerbiaRadomir AntićJanuary 27, 2015August 18, 2015
ChinaLi TieAugust 18, 2015August 27, 2016Sacked
ChileManuel PellegriniAugust 27, 2016May 19, 2018Mutual consent
WalesChris ColemanJune 10, 2018May 15, 2019Sacked
ChinaXie FengMay 15, 2019March 28, 2021Mutual consent
South KoreaKim Jong-booMarch 28, 2021December 16, 2022Mutual consent

Results

All-time league rankings

As of the end of 2022 season.

YearDivPldWDLGFGAGDPtsPos.FA CupSuper CupAFCAtt./GStadium
20113144461416−2165 1DNEDNQDNQYutong International Sports Center
2012326187150113959 16R2DNQDNQ4,783
2013319114440132727 1RUR2DNQDNQ
2014230611133154−232914R2DNQDNQ6,239
2015230186653302360RUR4DNQDNQ7,796Qinhuangdao Olympic Sports Center Stadium
2016130117123438−4407QFDNQDNQ18,469
20171301578553817524R4DNQDNQ18,054
2018130109114650−4396R16DNQDNQ16,029Langfang Stadium
201913096153755-183311R4DNQDNQ17,799
20201207493244-12258R1DNQDNQ
20211226791528-13258R4DNQDNQ
2022134203218115-97-3218R2DNQDNQ
  • ^1 In group stage.
  • ^2 Hebei had 3 points deducted due to unpaid salaries on 5 November 2022 and had 6 points deducted due to unpaid salaries on 23 November 2022.

Key

China top division China second division China third division W Winners RU Runners-up 3 Third place RelegatedPld = Played W = Games won D = Games drawn L = Games lost F = Goals for A = Goals against Pts = Points Pos = Final positionDNQ = Did not qualify DNE = Did not enter NH = Not held – = Does not exist R1 = Round 1 R2 = Round 2 R3 = Round 3 R4 = Round 4F = 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
China top division
China second division
China third division
WWinners
RURunners-up
3Third place
Relegated

External links