Full name | Shanghai Shenxin Football Club 上海申鑫足球俱乐部 |
---|---|
Founded | 2003 |
Ground |
Jinshan Football Stadium, Shanghai, China |
Capacity | 30,000 |
Chairman | Xu Guoliang 徐国良 |
Manager | Juan Ignacio Martínez |
League | China League One |
2016 | League One, 10th |
Shanghai Shenxin Football Club (Chinese: 上海申鑫; pinyin: Shànghǎi Shēnxīn) is a professional football club that participates in the China League One division under licence from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The team is based in Jinshan District, Shanghai and their home stadium is the Jinshan Football Stadium that has a seating capacity of 30,000. Their majority shareholder is Chinese real estate company Hengyuan Corporation.
The club was founded in 2003 as Shanghai Hengyuan Football Club before they made their debut in the third tier of China's football league pyramid in the 2003 league season. When the People's Liberation Army dismissed part of its sports branch, which included its football team the club became interested in acquiring it before ultimately buying their youth team. On April 2, 2004, a new club named Nanchang Bayi Hengyuan Football Club was established with players who had played for the Shanghai Hengyuan Football Club and the Bayi U-19 team. The club worked its way up to the top tier after coming runners-up in the second division during the 2009 league season and promotion to the Chinese Super League. The club name changed to "Nanchang Hengyuan Football Club" at 2010 summer, because the word "Bayi" (means People's Liberation Army) used by enterprise is prohibited from 2009. After almost eight years in Nanchang the club would decide to move back to Shanghai at the beginning of 2012 and renamed themselves Shanghai Shenxin Football Club.
In 2003 Shanghai real estate company Hengyuan Corporation formed Shanghai Hengyuan Football Club who were based in the Zhabei District. In their first season they failed to reach the Chinese Football Association Yi League finals at the end of the league campaign. During this period top tier side Bayi FC were in financial difficulties. Shanghai Hengyuan were interested to taking over the entire club especially their position in the top tier of the Chinese football pyramid, however this was unable to be achieved because many of the first team had already left the club. Shanghai Hengyuan then concentrated on buying Bayi's youth team and on April 2, 2004, a new club named Nanchang Bayi Hengyuan Football Club was established with players who had played for the Shanghai Hengyuan Football Club and the Bayi U-19 team. The club moved to Nanchang, Jiangxi and play at the 26,000 seater Nanchang Bayi Stadium to take advantage of the region's lack of football representation, yet strong support. Playing at the bottom of the Chinese football pyramid in the third tier the club brought in Li Xiao to manage the team. He quickly guided the team to win the Yi League in 2005 and promotion to the Jia League. After this achievement Li Xiao became the club's vice-chairman. High-profile managers Zhou Suian and then Zho Bo came to manage the team with little success. Li Xiao returned to manage the team until November 27, 2008 when he decided to resign at the end the season.