Yunnan Flying Tigers Football Club () is a defunct professional

Chinese Chinese may refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people identified with China, through nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **Han Chinese, East Asian ethnic group native to China. **'' Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

club based in

Lijiang Lijiang ( zh, s= ), formerly romanized as Likiang, is a prefecture-level city in the northwest of Yunnan Province, China. It has an area of and had a population of 1,253,878 at the 2020 census whom 288,787 lived in the built-up area (metro) ...

Yunnan Yunnan; is an inland Provinces of China, province in Southwestern China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 47.2 million (as of 2020). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the Chinese provinces ...

. Their home stadium was the

Lijiang Sports Development Centre Stadium The Lijiang Sports Development Centre Stadium (), or simply Lijiang Stadium, is a sports venue in Lijiang, Yunnan, PR China. It has a capacity of 22,400 and it is used mostly for association football Association football, more commonly know ...

which has a

seating capacity Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, in terms of both the physical space available and limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that ...

of 22,400. The club's major investors were the Kunming Minjian Mechanical & Electrical Equipment Limited Company along with Lijiang Materials Co. Ltd. and Lijiang Lijiang Taihe Group.

History

After the disbandment of Yunnan Lijiang Dongba F.C. in 2006 it was decided by the Yunnan Sports Bureau, Yunnan Football Association, Lijiang Municipal People's Government, Lijiang Sports Bureau and Lijiang Football Association to help form another professional football team to help represent the province. This was realised in September 2012 when Lijiang Jiayunhao F.C. was officially registered within the Chinese football association to participate the

2013 China League Two The 2013 Chinese Football Association Division Two League season is the 24th season since its establishment in 1989. It is divided into two groups, North and South. There are 15 teams participating in the league, 8 teams in North Group and 7 team ...

division and by December 5, 2012, Niu Hongli was appointed as their first Head coach. The

was chosen as their home location and the team played in an all green home kit. On May 6, 2013, Kunming Minjian Mechanical & Electrical Equipment Limited Company along with Lijiang Materials Co. Ltd. and Lijiang Lijiang Taihe Group. would all become major investors within the team. In their debut season the club would reach the divisions play-off where they were knocked out in the quarter-finals by Hebei Zhongji 3–2 on aggregate. By the 2015 league season the club would change their crest and colours to blue. After several seasons where they continued to reach the division play-off the club finally gained promotion when the club's Head coach Zhang Biao led them to win the division after defeating

Baoding Yingli ETS Baoding Yingli ETS () was a professional Chinese Association football, football club that last participated in the China League Two division under licence from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The team was based in Baoding, Hebei. Their ow ...

2–0 in the play-off final. In January 2017, Lijiang Jiayunhao F.C. changed their name to Yunnan Lijiang F.C.. Their nickname Flying Tigers is a homage to the famous

1st American Volunteer Group The First American Volunteer Group (AVG) of the Republic of China Air Force, nicknamed the Flying Tigers, was formed to help oppose the Japanese invasion of China. Operating in 1941–1942, it was composed of pilots from the United States Ar ...

in World War II, nicknamed the ''Flying Tigers'', based in

Yunnan Province Yunnan; is an inland Provinces of China, province in Southwestern China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 47.2 million (as of 2020). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the Chinese provinces ...

in China. In January 2018, Yunnan Lijiang F.C. changed their name to Yunnan Flying Tigers F.C. following their relegation back to

China League Two The Chinese Football League 2 (), or China League Two, is the third-tier association football league of the People's Republic of China. The league is under the auspices of the Chinese Football Association and operated by the Chinese Professional ...

after finishing last in the

2017 China League One The 2017 China League One ( zh, 58同城2017中国足球协会甲级联赛) was the 14th season of the China League One, the second tier of the Chinese football league pyramid, since its establishment in 2004. The league's title sponsor was the e- ...

. During the season, the club's chairman, He Rongyao, was arrested, and the club was revealed for arrearage of salary at the end of 2018 season. On 26 February 2019, Yunnan Flying Tigers officially withdrew from

, and was dissolved.

Name history

*2012–2016 Lijiang Jiayunhao F.C. 丽江嘉云昊 *2017 Yunnan Lijiang F.C. 云南丽江 *2018 Yunnan Flying Tigers F.C. 云南飞虎

Managerial history

* Niu Hongli (2013) * Li Hu (2014) * Wang Zheng (2015–2016) * Zhang Biao (2016) * Lim Jong-heon (2017) * Zhang Biao (caretaker) (2017) * Kurt Garger (2017–2018) * Huang Yan (2018)

Honours

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

Results

All-time league rankings ''As of the end of 2018 season.'' * In group stage. Key

* 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

{{Reflist Defunct football clubs in China Football clubs in China Lijiang Sport in Yunnan Association football clubs established in 2012 2012 establishments in China Football clubs in Yunnan Association football clubs disestablished in 2019 2019 disestablishments in China