Hunan Billows
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| Full name | Hunan Xiangtao Football Club 湖南湘涛足球俱乐部 |
|---|---|
| Founded | 26 December 2006 (official) 15 January 2004 (unofficial) |
| Ground | Yiyang Stadium,China |
| Capacity | 30,000 |
| Chairman | Li Jingman |
| Manager |
 Zhang Xu |
| League | China League Two |
| 2016 | League One, 16th (Relegated) |
Hunan Billows Football Club (simplified Chinese: 湖南湘涛; traditional Chinese: 湖南湘濤; pinyin: Húnán Xiāngtāo) is a professional Chinese football club that participates in the China League Two division under licence from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The team is based in Yiyang, Hunan and their home stadium is the 30,000-seat Yiyang Stadium. Their majority shareholders are the Hunan Provincial Sports Bureau and high-tech industry company Hunan Corun New Energy Co. Ltd.
The club was founded on January 15, 2004 as Hunan Xiangjun to take part in the second tier at the beginning of the 2004 Chinese football league season. After three seasons the club was relegated and faced financial difficulties. To preserve the representation of Hunan province in the Chinese football league pyramid, fans of the club raised three million Yuan in the hopes of keeping the team going. The local Hunan government sports body decided that it would be best to invest on a brand new team for the area and formed a new club called Hunan Billows (Simplified Chinese: 湖南湘军) on December 26, 2006. The reformed club won the 2009 Chinese League Two title and promotion to the Chinese League One division where they have since remained.
Before the start of the 2004 Chinese football league season, Chongqing Lifan and Yunnan Hongta merged their football clubs together. This left a free space available in the second division. The surplus players from the clubs formed a new club called Hunan Xiangjun (or Hunan Shoking Football Club in English). They gained investment from the Hunan Corun New Energy Co. Ltd., which bought the club's registration into the division for 20 million Yuan. On January 15, 2004, the club was inaugurated into the Chinese football league. They hired former Chinese Olympic medalist Xiong Ni as their Chairman and former Chinese international footballer Zhu Bo as their first manager. Playing in the 55,000-seat Helong Stadium in Changsha, the club had international players - Fu Bin and Srđan Bajčetić - while the youth team called Xiangxue Pharmaceutical participated in the 2004–05 Hong Kong First Division League to gain experience. The youth team had limitless success. The senior team fared little better and struggled in their debut season. They finished tenth at the end of the season.
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