Hubei Huakaier F.C.
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| Full name | Xinjiang Tianshan Leopard Football Club 新疆天山雪豹足球俱乐部 |
|---|---|
| Founded | December 2011 |
| Ground | Xinjiang Sports Centre |
| Capacity | 50,000 |
| Owner | Shenzhen China-Kyle Special Steel Corp., Ltd |
| Chairman |
 Li Jianzhong (李建忠) |
| Manager |
Li Jun (李军) |
| League | China League One |
| 2016 | League One, 11th |
| Website | Club home page |
Xinjiang Tianshan Leopard F.C. (Chinese: 新疆天山雪豹; pinyin: Xīnjiāng Tiānshān Xuěbào) is a professional Chinese football club that currently participates in the China League One division under licence from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The team is based in Ürümqi, Xinjiang and their home stadium is the Xinjiang Sports Centre that has a seating capacity of 50,000. Their current majority shareholder is the Shenzhen China-Kyle Special Steel Corp., Ltd.
Hubei Huakaier was established in December 2011 by the China-Kyle Special Steel Co., Ltd and they brought in Li Jianzhong (李建忠) as their Chairman as well as Li Jun (李军) 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 F.C. within the division, nonetheless that position ensured promotion to the China League One 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 aford the plane tickets required to go their training camp set in Dongguan, Guangdong and had to go there by coach. Despite the financial constrants Li Jun was able to avoid relegation on the final day of the season when the team beat Chengdu Tiancheng F.C. 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, 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 Huakaier moved to Xinjiang's capital city Ürümqi and changed their name to Xinjiang Tianshan Leopard.
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