Beijing Institute of Technology F.C.

Beijing Institute of Technology Football Club (Chinese: 北京理工足球俱乐部; pinyin: Běijīng Lǐgōng Zúqiú Jùlèbù), or simply BIT, is a Chinese professional football club based in Beijing, that competes in China League Two, the third tier of Chinese football. BIT plays its home matches inside the main Beijing Institute of Technology campus, at the BIT Eastern Athletic Field, located within Haidian District.[1] Their current majority shareholders are Beijing Institute of Technology (BIT) and Joan Oliver, who acquired a 29% stake on 5 December 2016.[2][3]

Beijing Institute of Technology
Běijīng Lǐgōng
北京理工
logo
Full nameBeijing Institute of Technology Football Club
北京理工足球俱乐部
Nickname(s)Student Army (学生军)
Founded1940; 84 years ago (1940) (University)
2000; 24 years ago (2000) (as Beijing Institute of Technology Football Club)
GroundBIT Eastern Athletic Field, Beijing
Capacity5,000
ChairmanLiu Qixiao (刘启孝)
ManagerYu Fei
LeagueChina League Two
2024China League Two, 13th of 20

The club was founded in 2000 by the Beijing Institute of Technology initially as a college football team, where they experienced significant success by winning four Chinese Collegiate Championships before deciding to enter the 2006 league campaign at the bottom of the professional Chinese football league pyramid in the third tier. After winning the 2006 division championship the club complied with the requirements of full professionalism by having their full-time students register as professionals, increasing player wages and gaining sponsorship.[4] On 11 April 2017, the club announced a permanent separation between their University team and professional team.[5]

History

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College football

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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 Sangao.[4] 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 per month as a nominal allowance while continuing their studies. The club's recruitment policy saw them, particularly scout youth players, wishing to continue their education; however, Beijing Sangao would ultimately be the main source of their first roster.[6][7][8]

After 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 the championship ended, he decided to stay on and publicly declared that this club should be participating within the Chinese national leagues.[9] After participating in 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, of which were eight graduate students and 22 university students, a statistic that the club would proudly proclaim made them the best educated team in Chinese history.[4]

Professional football

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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.[10] The promotion drew great national attention because it was the first time a team consisting of full-time college students won such a promotion. Concerns were raised by the Chinese Ministry of Education about the impact that professional football would have on the students and whether a university should allow its sports team to participate in a professional league.[4] The CFA would allow the club to participate in the league after giving them special dispensation, despite failing to move to a 20,000 seater stadium required for all professional football teams in the league.[4] The club complied 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 1,000 Yuan per month.[11] 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 its name to Beijing Patriotic Students and finished the league campaign in 11th place.[12]

In the 2008 league season Beijing Huaqi Information Digital Technology Co., Ltd. decided to change the club's name to Beijing Aigo to reflect their ownership of the Aigo brand. In the following season, the club signed a new one-year sponsorship for 3 million Yuan, which changed the club's name to Beijing Guirenniao.[13] When this sponsorship ended at the beginning of the 2010 league season, the club was in a precarious financial situation that required the Beijing Sports Bureau to step in with a 400 million Yuan investment.[11] The departure of Cao Xiandong as coach further exacerbated the difficulties the club were facing 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 has continued to move into the realm of professionalism with the inclusion of professional foreign imports such as Dutch-born Raphael Maitimo. However, the club still stuck to its collegiate roots by competing within the 2011 Summer Universiade and 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.[14]

On 5 December 2016, Joan Oliver, owner of Spanish club CF Reus, acquired a 29% stake in the club along with the president of FC Barcelona Joan Laporta.[2] The deal would make them the first ever direct foreign owners of a Chinese club.[3] Joan Oliver, in his first press conference as owner of Beijing BIT, announced a permanent separation between the club's University team and its professional team.[5]

Name history

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  • 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 北京理工足球俱乐部[1]

Players

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Current squad

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As of 1 March 2024[15]

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

No. Pos. Nation Player
1 GK   CHN Fu Jingyu
2 DF   CHN Zhang Haolin
3 DF   CHN Li Xiantao
4 DF   CHN Guo Mengyuan
5 DF   CHN Guo Mengjie
6 MF   CHN Zhao Zhengjun
8 MF   CHN Sun Jiale
9 FW   CHN Huang Yi
10 MF   CHN Wang Jian
11 FW   CHN Chen Jidong
12 GK   CHN Feng Siman
13 DF   CHN Zhen Jingbo
14 DF   CHN Wang Minjie
17 FW   CHN Li Xiangyu
18 FW   CHN Li Mengyang
19 MF   CHN Cui Hao
No. Pos. Nation Player
20 MF   CHN Ye Maoshen
21 MF   CHN Liu Haohan
22 MF   CHN Huang Junye
24 MF   CHN Zheng Zehao
25 FW   CHN Li Zongcan
27 DF   CHN Jia Hanlin
29 FW   CHN Tan Dinghao
30 MF   CHN Li Zhaolong
31 MF   CHN Li Libo
33 DF   CHN Gou Xuanrui
35 FW   CHN Zhao Haoyu
37 MF   CHN Ma Chuhang
38 DF   CHN Han Lei
39 FW   CHN Wang Chenyang
43 GK   CHN Li Chuyu
44 DF   CHN Tai Atai
DF   CHN Liu Zongyuan (at Henan until 31 December 2024)
MF   CHN Hua Mingcan (at Henan until 31 December 2024)

Coaching staff

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Position Staff
Head coach   Yu Fei
Assistant coach
Goalkeeping coach
Fitness coach

Source: sina.com

Managerial history

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Honours

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  • China League Two (tier-III)
    • Champions (1): 2006
  • China University Championship
    • Champions (8): 2001/02, 2002/03. 2003/04, 2005/06, 2010/11, 2012/13, 2013/14, 2014/15

Results

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All-time CUFL League Rankings

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  • As of the end of 2019 season.[16]
Season 00/01 01/02 02/03 03/04 04/05 05/06 06/07 07/08 08/09 09/10 10/11 11/12 12/13 13/14 14/15 15/16 16/17 17/18 18/19
Position 3 1 1 1 4 1 41 3 7 -2 1 -2 13 13 13 13 -2 3 1
  • ^1 in Final round group stage
    ^2 did not enter the final stage
    ^3 in the Senior Zone
    .

All-time Professional League Rankings

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Year Div Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Pos. FA Cup Super Cup AFC Att./G Stadium
2006 3 21 12 8 1 45 13 32 35 1 1 DNQ DNQ DNQ BIT Eastern Athletic Field
2007 2 24 5 7 12 27 40 −13 22 11 NH DNQ DNQ
2008 2 24 7 7 10 27 39 −12 28 7 NH DNQ DNQ
2009 2 24 7 7 10 29 33 −4 28 8 NH DNQ DNQ
2010 2 24 4 6 14 22 40 −18 18 12 NH DNQ DNQ
2011 2 26 5 9 12 15 33 −18 24 13 R1 DNQ DNQ
2012 2 30 8 8 14 27 41 −14 32 14 R2 DNQ DNQ 1,491
2013 2 30 10 5 15 32 42 −10 35 9 R2 DNQ DNQ 1,792
2014 2 30 11 4 15 46 57 −11 37 9 R3 DNQ DNQ 1,637
2015 2 30 8 5 17 40 64 −24 29 15 R2 DNQ DNQ 1,749
2016 3 20 5 7 8 19 29 -10 22 15 R1 DNQ DNQ 748
2017 3 24 6 8 10 30 33 -3 26 15 R1 DNQ DNQ 582
2018 3 28 9 3 16 44 59 -9 30 21 R2 DNQ DNQ 343
2019 3 30 9 3 18 36 61 -25 30 1 20 R2 DNQ DNQ
  • ^1 In group stage.

Key

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b "北京理工足球俱乐部". thecfa.cn. 2017-07-28. Retrieved 2021-06-23.
  2. ^ a b "Joan Oliver: "Estamos intentando hacer ahora en China lo mismo que hacemos en el Reus"". diarimes.com. 2016-12-05. Retrieved 2017-05-23.
  3. ^ a b "La antigua directiva del Barça 'compra' un club en China junto a Joan Laporta". elespanol.com. 2017-04-07. Retrieved 2017-05-23.
  4. ^ a b c d e "北理工,夹缝中的足球梦". sports.163.com. 2011-08-16. Retrieved 2015-08-18.
  5. ^ a b "Spanish soccer club buys stake in Chinese university club". china.org.cn. 2017-04-11. Retrieved 2017-05-23.
  6. ^ "高考比联赛更重要--记北京BTV三高足球队". sports. sports.sina.com.cn. 2000-07-10. Retrieved 2015-08-18.
  7. ^ "三高简介". sangaoclub.com. 2012-09-01. Archived from the original on 2015-11-26. Retrieved 2015-08-18.
  8. ^ "中国足球后备人才近枯竭人大附"三高"模式探索". education.news.cn. 2000-07-28. Archived from the original on 2015-11-25. Retrieved 2015-08-18.
  9. ^ "北理工足球队中甲4年一支"学生军"困惑与坚守". education.news.cn. 2010-07-29. Archived from the original on 2015-11-25. Retrieved 2015-08-19.
  10. ^ "China 2006". RSSSF. 2014-09-04. Retrieved 2015-08-20.
  11. ^ a b "学生球队参加中甲生存艰难". sports.163.com. 2011-08-16. Retrieved 2015-08-20.
  12. ^ "China 2007". RSSSF. 2008-04-18. Retrieved 2015-08-25.
  13. ^ "China 2009". RSSSF. 2010-04-23. Retrieved 2015-08-25.
  14. ^ "鑫苑成北理工第二大股东 将冠名学生军三年". sports.sina.com.cn. 2015-04-09. Retrieved 2015-08-26.
  15. ^ "2022赛季北京理工足球队球员名单". Dongqiudi (in Chinese). 15 May 2022. Retrieved 15 May 2022.
  16. ^ a b "China – List of Champions". RSSSF. 20 March 2014. Retrieved 2014-08-25.
  17. ^ "北京理工". sodasoccer.com. Retrieved 2014-09-01.
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