Xiamen Blue Lions Football Club () is a defunct 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, which was located in

Xiamen Xiamen,), also known as Amoy ( ; from the Zhangzhou Hokkien pronunciation, zh, c=, s=, t=, p=, poj=Ē͘-mûi, historically romanized as Amoy, is a sub-provincial city in southeastern Fujian, People's Republic of China, beside the Taiwan Stra ...

Fujian Fujian is a provinces of China, province in East China, southeastern China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its capital is Fuzhou and its largest prefe ...

. It was founded in the 1996 league season and their nickname was the "Blue Lions" while they played in the Xiamen Sports Centre Stadium. Throughout their history they would twice win promotion to the top tier of Chinese football and play in the

Chinese Super League The Chinese Football Super League (), commonly known as the Chinese Super League or the CSL (), also known as the China Resources Beverage Chinese Football Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Ch ...

. When the club was relegated at the end of 2007 league season they disbanded.

History

On February 23, 1996, Xiamen FC was created to take part in the recently fully professionalised Chinese football league system where they started in the third division. At the beginning of the 1998 league season the club would take over second-tier football club

Foshan Fosti F.C. Foshan Fosti Football Club () was a 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), th ...

and take their position within the division. With their new manager

Chi Shangbin Chi Shangbin ( zh, s=迟尚斌, t=迟尚斌, p=Chí Shàngbīn; 19 September 1949 – 6 March 2021) was a Chinese football player and coach. As player, he spent his whole career playing for Liaoning, and also represented China at international ...

coming in and the investment from Lai Changxing the club would start to flourish and go on to win the second tier title at the end of the 1999 league season. The following season, however was to prove to be a disaster when Lai Changxing became implicated in corruption and his involvement within the club came under severe scrutiny. While the club wasn't involved within any corruption their performance throughout the season still saw them relegated and the management left. The next several seasons would see the team remain within the second tier and while they would actually go on to win the 2002 division title there wasn't any promotion allowed during that season and they would have to remain within the division. With the introduction of new head coach

Gao Hongbo Gao Hongbo (; born January 25, 1966, in Beijing) is a Chinese professional football manager and former player who played as a striker. He previously managed the China national football team from 2009 to 2011, and in 2016. Appointed in May 2 ...

at the beginning of the 2004 league season the club would show consistent promotion ambitions and would eventually go on to win the 2005 division title. Now playing in the

the team would establish themselves within the division and finish mid-table, eighth within the league. Gao Hongbo would attract the attentions of ambitious club

Changchun Yatai Changchun Yatai Football Club () is a Chinese professional football club based in Changchun, Jilin, that competes in . Changchun Yatai plays its home matches at the Changchun Stadium, located within Nanguan District. The club's founder and main ...

and leave the team at the end of the season. This saw Xiamen slip down the table, finish bottom of the league and then get relegated. The team would decide to disband at the end of the season, though they would wait until March 2008 to officially disband at the beginning of the 2008 league season.

Name history

*1996–97: Xiamen Yincheng () *1998: Xiamen Fairwiell () *1999: Xiamen FC () *2000: Xiamen Xiaxin () *2001–03: Xiamen Hongshi () *2003.10.2 – 2004: Xiamen Jixiang Shishi () *2004.5.18 – 2008: Xiamen Blue Lions ()

Honours

* Chinese Jia B League/

Chinese 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 ...

**Champions (3): 1999, 2002, 2005

Results

*As of the end of 2008 season League rankings before 1993 * in group stage

References

{{reflist Defunct football clubs in China Football clubs in China Association football clubs established in 1996 Association football clubs disestablished in 2008 Sport in Xiamen 1996 establishments in China 2008 disestablishments in China Football clubs in Fujian Chinese Super League clubs