Cangzhou Mighty Lions F.C.

Cangzhou Mighty Lions Football Club (simplified Chinese: 沧州雄狮; traditional Chinese: 滄州雄獅; pinyin: Cāngzhōu Xióngshī) is a professional football club that currently participates in the Chinese Super League under licence from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The team is based in Cangzhou, Hebei and their home stadium is the Cangzhou Stadium that has a seating capacity of 31,836. Their majority shareholder is the Yongchang Real Estate who own 70% of the shares of the club.

Cangzhou Mighty Lions
沧州雄狮

Full name	Cangzhou Mighty Lions Football Club
Founded	25 February 2011; 11 years ago (2011-02-25)
Ground	Cangzhou Stadium
Capacity	31,836
Owner	Zhang Huafang
Chairman	Li Xiaopeng
Manager	Svetozar Šapurić
League	Chinese Super League
2022	Super League, 12th of 18
Website	Club website
Home colours Away colours

History

On February 25, 2011, the club was founded by Smart Hero International Trading Limited (骏豪投资有限公司), Xiamen Dongyuhang Import & Export Co., Ltd. (厦门东屿行进出口有限公司), Xiamen City HS Sheng Industrial Co., Ltd. (厦门协晟工贸有限公司) and Xiamen City Shengxin Metal Products Co., Ltd. (厦门金盛鑫金属制),^[1][2] on the basis of local amateur club Xiamen Dongyuhang, which just won the runners-up spot of China Amateur Football League last year, as Fujian Smart Hero F.C. (Chinese: 福建骏豪足球俱乐部). Within their debut season they played in the China League Two division within the 2011 league season where their home uniforms were yellow tops and black shorts. Fujian in their first season would win promotion to the 2012 China League One division via the League One relegation play-off in which Fujian beat Guizhou Zhicheng 6–5 in a penalty shootout.^[3]

In the 2012 China League One campaign Xu Hui was appointed as manager and he would lead the club to a third-place finish. This saw Yongchang Real Estate (Chinese: 永昌地产集团) interested in the team and they bought 70% shares of the club, which officially went through on January 18, 2013.^[4] The club moved to Hebei Province's capital city Shijiazhuang into the Yutong International Sports Center, changed the club's colors to blue and the team's name into Shijiazhuang Yongchang Junhao F.C. (Chinese: 石家庄永昌骏豪足球俱乐部). On December 27, 2013 Yongchang Real Estate bought the remaining 30% shares of the club and on February 24, 2014 Shijiazhuang Yongchang Junhao F.C. changed their name to Shijiazhuang Yongchang F.C.(Chinese: 石家庄永昌足球俱乐部).^[5][6] In the 2014 league season Shijiazhuang Yongchang won promotion to the top tier in the first time in their history when they came runners-up within their division. The club's first act within the top flight was to change their English name to Shijiazhuang Ever Bright F.C. (while their Chinese name still remained as 石家庄永昌) in January 2015.

The club's debut season within the top tier saw the club's manager Yasen Petrov able to guide the team to seventh in the league and safely away from relegation at the end of the 2015 league season.^[7] The following campaign would prove to be considerably more difficult and Yasen Petrov was relieved of his position on 14 July 2016 and replaced by Li Jinyu on a caretaker basis, after a run of bad form saw the club in a relegation battle.^[8] The club were relegated at the end of the 2016 Chinese Super League season and on 7 November 2016 brought in Afshin Ghotbi as their new coach for the following season.^[9] Fortunately, they remained contenders for promotion in the next few seasons, but despite earning third place in 2017, they failed to win promotion for the next two years.

They were promoted again in 2019 but finished last in the 2020 relegation tournament. They escaped relegation when Super League team Jiangsu F.C. dissolved in 2021. They were renamed as Cangzhou Mighty Lions, the same year Chinese FA sought to remove corporation names from team names.

Name history

• 2011–12: Fujian Smart Hero (福建骏豪)
• 2013: Shijiazhuang Yongchang Junhao (石家庄永昌骏豪)
• 2014: Shijiazhuang Yongchang (石家庄永昌)
• 2015–2020: Shijiazhuang Ever Bright (石家庄永昌)
• 2021–: Cangzhou Mighty Lions (沧州雄狮)

Current squad

First team squad

As of 21 January 2023^[10]

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK   CHN Sun Jianxiang 3 DF   CHN Cao Haiqing 5 DF   CHN Yan Zihao 6 DF   CHN Yang Yun 7 MF   CHN Zang Yifeng 8 MF   CHN Lin Chuangyi 10 FW   COD Oscar Maritu 11 FW   CHN Bughrahan Skandar 12 MF   CHN Luo Jing 13 DF   ZAM Stoppila Sunzu 14 GK   CHN Shao Puliang 15 MF   CHN Sabit Abdusalam 16 DF   CHN Zheng Kaimu 17 MF   CHN Piao Shihao 18 DF   CHN Li Hong 20 FW   CHN Liu Xinyu

No. Pos. Nation Player 21 DF   CHN Jiang Zhe 22 MF   CHN Guo Hao 23 FW   CHN Yang Yiming 24 FW   CHN He Youzu 25 MF   CHN Zhang Yue 26 MF   CHN Guo Yunqi 27 MF   CHN Ma Fuyu 28 DF   CHN Yang Xiaotian 29 GK   CHN Han Feng 30 DF   CHN Liu Yang 31 MF   CHN Chen Zhongliu 33 MF   CHN Zhang Xiangshuo 40 MF   KAZ Georgy Zhukov 44 MF   NED Deabeas Owusu-Sekyere 45 FW   GUI José Kanté

Reserve squad

As of 7 March 2019

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 41 GK   CHN Lu Hantao 42 MF   CHN Sun Xuelong 43 MF   CHN Mao Ziyu 47 MF   CHN Wu Xiaotian 48 MF   CHN Wang Chunkai 49 DF   CHN Zhang Hongkui 50 MF   CHN Pei Ziqi 51 DF   CHN Li Fengyin 52 FW   CHN Li Xun

No. Pos. Nation Player 53 DF   CHN Chen Yuhang 54 GK   CHN Long Tengyi 58 GK   CHN Liu Wei 59 DF   CHN Lü Hongchen 62 MF   CHN Wang Shen 64 DF   CHN Zhang Yifeng - MF   CHN Zhang Aokai - DF   CHN Yan Zihao

Out on loan

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

No. Pos. Nation Player - FW   CHN Liu Ziming (at Liaoning Shenyang Urban until 31 December 2022)

Coaching staff

Position	Staff
Head coach	Svetozar Šapurić
Assistant coach	Su Jingyu
Goalkeeper coach	Aleksandar Kocić
Conditioning coach	Christos Sotiriou
Technical analyst	Lü Hongchen
Technical director	Peter Vagenas

Source: sina.com

Managerial history

Managers who have coached the club since they became a completely professional unit on February 25, 2011.^[11][12]

•   Zhao Tuqiang (2011)
•   Xu Hui (2012 – May 14, 2013)
•   Xu Tao (interim) (May 14, 2013 – June 30, 2013)
•   Li Shubin (Jun 30, 2013 – Dec 12, 2013)
•   Yasen Petrov (Dec 12, 2013 – 14 Jul 2016)
•   Li Jinyu (caretaker) (14 Jul 2016 – 7 Nov 2016)
•     Afshin Ghotbi (7 Nov 2016 – 3 Sep 2018)
•   Yasen Petrov (8 Sep 2018 – 19 Jul 2019 )
•     Afshin Ghotbi (20 Jul 2019 – 6 Sep 2021)
•   Liu Yan (caretaker) (6 Sep 2021 – 3 Nov 2021)
•   Svetozar Šapurić (4 Nov 2021 – )

Honours

League

• China League One^[13]

Runners-up (1): 2014

Results

All-time League Rankings

As of the end of 2019 season.^[14][15]

Year	Div	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Pos.	FA Cup	Super Cup	AFC	Att./G	Stadium
2011	3	26	13	9	4	32	16	16	39^1	3	DNE	DNQ	DNQ		Longyan Sports Center
2012	2	30	12	10	8	41	32	9	46	3	R2	DNQ	DNQ	4,142	Fuzhou Stadium / Jinjiang Sports Center Stadium
2013	2	30	10	10	10	26	25	1	40	8	R3	DNQ	DNQ	10,053	Yutong International Sports Center
2014	2	30	17	6	7	42	25	17	57	RU	R2	DNQ	DNQ	11,208
2015	1	30	8	15	7	34	31	3	39	7	R3	DNQ	DNQ	25,070
2016	1	30	7	9	14	28	53	-25	30	16	R4	DNQ	DNQ	22,523
2017	2	30	14	12	4	48	34	14	54	3	R3	DNQ	DNQ	16,219
2018	2	30	12	9	9	43	38	5	45	6	R3	DNQ	DNQ	12,405
2019	2	30	18	2	10	59	42	17	56	RU	R4	DNQ	DNQ	17,488
2020	1	20	5	7	8	23	29	-6	22	16^2	R1	DNQ	DNQ	N/A
2021	1	22	6	6	10	25	32	-7	24	11	R5	DNQ	DNQ	N/A	Cangzhou Stadium
2022	1	22	11	11	12	47	51	-4	44	12	QF	DNQ	DNQ	N/A

• ^1 In group stage.
• ^2 Avoided relegation due to the dissolution of Jiangsu Suning.

Key

China top division   China second division   China third division W   Winners RU   Runners-up 3   Third place   Relegated

Pld = Played W = Games won D = Games drawn L = Games lost F = Goals for A = Goals against Pts = Points Pos = Final position

DNQ = Did Not Qualify DNE = Did Not Enter NH = Not Held  – = Does Not Exist R1 = Round 1 R2 = Round 2 R3 = Round 3 R4 = Round 4

F = 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

References

1. . news.xmnn.cn. 2011-05-13. Archived from the original on 2015-02-10. Retrieved 2015-06-12.
2. "厦门骏豪看中福建体育品牌资源 投资试水中国足球". fjsen.com. 2011-05-11. Retrieved 2015-06-12.
3. "China 2011". rsssf.com. 2014-11-05. Retrieved 2015-06-12.
4. "厦门骏豪向河北永昌房地产开发有限公司转让的公示". fa.org.cn. 2013-01-18. Retrieved 2015-06-12.
5. "骏豪撤资石家庄永昌用新名 保加利亚国脚前腰加盟". sports.sina.com.cn. 2013-12-27. Retrieved 2015-06-12.
6. . fa.org.cn. 2014-02-24. Archived from the original on 2015-09-24. Retrieved 2015-06-12.
7. "China 2015". rsssf.com. 2016-03-16. Retrieved 2016-11-21.
8. "永昌宣布主帅亚森下课 李金羽暂担任代理主教练". sports.sohu.com. 2016-07-14. Retrieved 2016-11-21.
9. "Afshin Ghotbi, nuevo técnico de Shijiazhuang Ever Bright". es.superligachina.com. 2016-07-14. Retrieved 2016-11-21.
10. "沧州雄狮公布新赛季大名单：奥斯卡10号，米哈伊洛维奇9号". Dongqiudi (in Chinese). 9 May 2022. Retrieved 9 May 2022.
11. "Shijiazhuang Ever Bright » Manager history". worldfootball.net. Retrieved 2015-06-12.
12. "Shijiazhuang Yongchang". footballzz.co.uk. Retrieved 2015-06-12.
13. "CHINA LEAGUE ONE – 2014". uk.soccerway.com. Retrieved 2015-11-09.
14. "China – List of Champions". rsssf.com. 20 March 2014. Retrieved 2 April 2014.
15. "石家庄永昌". sodasoccer.com. Retrieved 3 February 2014.

External links

• Official Site 2015-03-12 at the Wayback Machine