Full name | Chengdu Tiancheng Football Club 成都天诚足球俱乐部 |
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Nickname(s) | Chinese Sheffield United, |
Founded | 1996 | as Chengdu Wuniu F.C.
Dissolved | 2015 |
Ground | Shuangliu Sports Centre Stadium, Chengdu |
Capacity | 26,000 |
Chengdu Tiancheng F.C. | |||||||||||
Chinese | 成都天诚足球俱乐部 | ||||||||||
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Transcriptions | |
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Standard Mandarin | |
Hanyu Pinyin | Chéngdū Tiānchéng Zúqiú Jùlèbù |
Wade–Giles | Ch'engtu Hsiehfielien Tsuch'iu Chülepu |
IPA | [ʈʂʰə̌ŋtú ɕi̯êféi̯li̯ɛ̌n tsǔtɕʰi̯ǒu̯ tɕŷlɤ̂pû] |
Chengdu Tiancheng F.C. (simplified Chinese: 成都天诚; traditional Chinese: 成都天誠; pinyin: Chéngdū Tiānchéng) was a Chinese professional football club based in Chengdu, China who last played in the 26,000 seater Shuangliu Sports Centre in the China League One division. The club was founded on February 26, 1996 and was formerly known as Chengdu Wuniu (Five Bulls) named after their first sponsor, the Wuniu (Five Bulls) Cigarette Company. However, the club was officially dissolved on January 4, 2015 and was subsequently de-registered by the Chinese Football Association on January 31, 2015 due to unpaid salaries to players and staff.
The team was named after English professional football club Sheffield United. On December 11, 2005, Sheffield United took over the organization and changed the club's badge as well as the team's home kit to represent this. The club went on to achieve promotion and their highest ever league position of seventh in the top tier of Chinese football until they were embroiled in a match-fixing scandal in 2009. Punished with relegation the owners eventually sold their majority on December 9, 2010 to Hung Fu Enterprise Co., Ltd and Scarborough Development (China) Co., Ltd. On May 23, 2013 the Tiancheng Investment Group announced the acquisition of the club.
The club was formed on February 26, 1996 under the name Chengdu Wuniu and entered into China's Yi League with Wang Fengzhu as their first manager. In their inaugural year the team topped both their second round group as well as their final round group and progressed to the semi-finals before losing to Shenzhen Jinpeng 2–1 on aggregate. Their second season in 1997 season saw them rise into China's Jia B League, this time coming second in the 2nd round group but again topping the final round group. They went on to win both their legs of the quarter finals 1–0 against Beijing Kuanli and after brushing aside Shaanxi Guoli 2–0 they progressed through to the final but lost 1–0 however they were still promoted along with the winners Jiangsu Jiajia as well as both semi-final losers.