Xinjiang Tianshan Leopard F.C. ( zh, s=新疆天山雪豹, t=新疆天山雪豹, p=Xīnjiāng Tiānshān Xuěbào, , w, iː, ɡ, ər=شىنجاڭ قار لەيلىسى) is a defunct professional Chinese

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 that participated in the

China League One The Chinese Football League 1 (), also known as China League One or Chinese Jia League (), is the second level of professional football in China, under the Chinese Super League. The league is under the auspices of the Chinese Football Association ...

division under licence from the

Chinese Football Association The Chinese Football Association (), abbreviated as CFA (), is the governing body for association football, beach soccer and futsal in the People's Republic of China (Mainland China). The CFA organizes the men's and women's national teams an ...

(CFA). The team was based in

Ürümqi Ürümqi, , is the capital of the Xinjiang, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in Northwestern China. With a census population of 4 million in 2020, Ürümqi is the second-largest city in China's northwestern interior after Xi'an, also the ...

Xinjiang Xinjiang,; , SASM/GNC romanization, SASM/GNC: Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Sinkiang, officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People' ...

. Their majority shareholder was the Ürümqi Juntai Real Estate Co., Ltd. (Juntai Group) The club dissolved in February 2023.

History

Hubei China-Kyle was established in December 2011 by the China-Kyle Special Steel Co., Ltd and they brought in Li Jianzhong () as their chairman as well as Li Jun () as their first manager. With the aid from the Hubei Football Association they formed a team and registered to play within the third tier of the Chinese football league system in the 2012 league season. Their home location was the Huangshi Stadium and all blue was chosen as their home uniform. In their debut season they finished fourth place in the South Group and advanced into the play-offs where after beating Hebei Zhongji and Shenzhen Fengpeng they ultimately came runners-up to Guizhou Zhicheng within the division, nonetheless that position ensured promotion to the

division. In their first appearance within the second division the club would struggle with the higher level of finance and professionalism required within the division. Before the start of the season the team could not afford the plane tickets required to go their training camp set in

Dongguan Dongguan,; pinyin: alternately romanized via Cantonese as Tungkun, is a prefecture-level city in central Guangdong Province, China. An important industrial city in the Pearl River Delta, Dongguan borders the provincial capital of Guangzhou t ...

Guangdong ) means "wide" or "vast", and has been associated with the region since the creation of Guang Prefecture in AD 226. The name "''Guang''" ultimately came from Guangxin ( zh, labels=no, first=t, t= , s=广信), an outpost established in Han dynasty ...

and had to go there by coach. Despite the financial constraints Li Jun was able to avoid relegation on the final day of the season when the team beat Chengdu Tiancheng 2–0 at home. At the start of the 2014 league season the club would publicly declare they were looking for investment and were willing to leave Hubei Province to obtain it. This saw speculation grow that the club were going to move to

Xi'an Xi'an is the list of capitals in China, capital of the Chinese province of Shaanxi. A sub-provincial city on the Guanzhong plain, the city is the third-most populous city in Western China after Chongqing and Chengdu, as well as the most populou ...

, but talks between the city broke down. The Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Sports Bureau, however would express interest in investing into the club, which initially saw them take over their Under-20 team. On 14 February 2014 the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Sports Bureau followed through with their investment by providing the Xinjiang Sports Centre, training facilities and sponsorship, which saw Hubei China-Kyle moved to

's capital city

and changed their name to Xinjiang Tianshan Leopard. The club would gain sponsorship from local real estate company Ürümqi Juntai Real Estate Co., Ltd. (Juntai Group) who decided to become the club's main investor throughout the season. In the

2018 China League One The 2018 China League One ( zh, 58同城 2018中国足球协会甲级联赛) was the 15th season of the China League One, the second tier of the Chinese football league system, Chinese football league pyramid, since its establishment in 2004. The l ...

, Xinjiang suffered a shock as they finished last in the division, but due to the dissolution of Dalian Transcendence and Yanbian Funde, and Zhejiang Yiteng being unable to apply for a League One license, Xinjiang miraculously managed to stay afloat in the League One.

Name history

*2011–2013 as Hubei China-Kyle F.C. 湖北华凯尔 *2014–2023 as Xinjiang Tianshan Leopard 新疆天山雪豹

Managerial history

* Li Jun (2012–2018) * Paul Put (2018) *

Fernando Fernando is a Spanish and Portuguese given name and a surname common in Spain, Portugal, Italy, France, Switzerland, and former Spanish or Portuguese colonies in Latin America, Africa and Asia (like the Philippines, India, and Sri Lanka). It is e ...

(2019–2020) * Polat Kutulk (caretaker) (2020) * Pei Encai (2021–2022)

Results

All-time league rankings ''As of the end of 2022 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 2014 establishments in China 2023 disestablishments in China Association football clubs established in 2014 Association football clubs disestablished in 2023 Huangshi Sport in Hubei Sport in Xinjiang Football clubs in China Football clubs in Xinjiang Football clubs in Hubei