Inner Mongolia Zhongyou F.C.

Inner Mongolia Zhongyou Football Club (Chinese: 内蒙古中优), commonly referred to as Hohhot (Chinese: 呼和浩特), was a professional Chinese football club that last participated in the China League One division under licence from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The team was based in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia and their home stadium was the 51,632 capacity Hohhot City Stadium. Their majority shareholders were the Hohhot Sports Bureau and Shanghai Zhongyou Real Estate Group.

Inner Mongolia Zhongyou
Nèiménggǔ Zhōngyōu
内蒙古中优

Full name	Inner Mongolia Zhongyou Football Club 内蒙古中优足球俱乐部
Founded	8 October 2011; 13 years ago (8 October 2011)
Dissolved	29 March 2021; 3 years ago (2021-03-29)
Ground	Hohhot City Stadium, Hohhot, China
Capacity	51,632
League	China League One
2020	League One, 13th of 18
Home colours Away colours

History

On 8 October 2011 Shanxi Jiayi football club was officially established by the Shanghai Zhongyou Real Estate Group who formed a senior team predominantly comprised from players from the Taiyuan University of Technology.^[1] With the aid of the Sports Bureau of Shanxi Province a youth team and women's team was also established and the Shanxi Sports Centre Stadium was chosen to be the club's home ground.^[2] They registered to play within the third tier of the Chinese football league system in the 2012 league season while the club chose white shirts and black shorts as their home uniform. In their debut season they however decided to move to the artificial turf ground Wanbailin Stadium and later Taiyuan Institute of Electrical Engineering Stadium to play their home games.^[3] On the field the club made their debut in the 2012 Chinese FA Cup where they were knocked out in the first round by Shanghai Pudong Zobon F.C. 3–1 while in their first season they finished ninth within their group.^[4]

Inner Mongolia Zhongyou logo in 2016

The club owners decided not to compete within the 2013 league season after a disappointing debut campaign. Wang Bo replaced Wu Jianwen as the club's manager and the team went through an extensive rebuilding process in preparation for the 2014 league season as well as changing the club's name to Taiyuan Zhongyou Jiayi.^[5] The rebuilding process would be a big success and the club would come runners-up within the league to Jiangxi Liansheng F.C. that saw them gain promotion to the second tier for the first time.^[6] Despite the promotion the club officially admitted the financial difficulties required with the higher level of professionalism and would consider relocating the team to gain the necessary investment.^[7]

On 5 January 2015 the Hohhot, Inner Mongolia Government Information Office held a press conference to announce that the Hohhot Sports Bureau would be investing and relocating the team to their city, which resulted in the name change of Nei Mongol Zhongyou.^[8]

Name history

• 2011–2013: Shanxi Jiayi (Chinese: 山西嘉怡)
• 2014: Taiyuan Zhongyou Jiayi (Chinese: 太原中优嘉怡)
• 2015–2018: Nei Mongol Zhongyou (Chinese: 内蒙古中优)
• 2019–2021: Inner Mongolia Zhongyou (Chinese: 内蒙古中优)

Managerial history

• Wu Jianwen (2012)
• Wang Bo (2014–2017)
• Raül Agné (2018)
• Wang Bo (2018)
• Chen Yang (2019)
• Choi Jin-han (2020–2021)

Results

All-time league rankings

As of the end of 2019 season.^[9][10]

Year	Div	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Pos.	FA Cup	Super Cup	AFC	Att./G	Stadium
2012	3	24	8	4	12	31	36	−5	28	9 1	R1	DNQ	DNQ	715	Wanbailin Stadium/Taiyuan IEE Stadium
2014	3	19	11	6	2	30	10	20	33 2	RU	DNE	DNQ	DNQ	2,500	Shanxi Sports Centre Stadium
2015	2	30	12	7	11	38	32	6	43	6	R3	DNQ	DNQ	18,238	Hohhot City Stadium
2016	2	30	12	5	13	37	35	2	41	7	R3	DNQ	DNQ	9,468
2017	2	30	9	8	13	40	47	−7	35	10	R4	DNQ	DNQ	7,656
2018	2	30	10	4	16	36	54	−18	34	13	R3	DNQ	DNQ	5,553
2019	2	30	15	6	9	35	30	5	51	7	R2	DNQ	DNQ	8,751
2020	2	15	2	5	8	13	19	-6	13	13	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ

Shanxi Jiayi did not compete in 2013.

• ^1 in North Group. ^2 In group stage.

Key

China top division   China second division   China third division W   Winners RU   Runners-up 3   Third place   Relegated

Pld = Played W = Games won D = Games drawn L = Games lost F = Goals for A = Goals against Pts = Points Pos = Final position

DNQ = Did not qualify DNE = Did not enter NH = Not Held  – = Does Not Exist R1 = Round 1 R2 = Round 2 R3 = Round 3 R4 = Round 4

F = Final SF = Semi-finals QF = Quarter-finals R16 = Round of 16 Group = Group stage GS2 = Second group stage QR1 = First qualifying round QR2 = Second qualifying round QR3 = Third qualifying round

References

1. "山西嘉怡足球俱乐部简介" (in Chinese). zhongyou888.com. 2011-12-11. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2015-07-28.
2. "山西足球新军"交学费"在所难免 目标5年冲中超" (in Chinese). chinanews.com. 2012-05-04. Archived from the original on 2019-08-12. Retrieved 2015-07-28.
3. "山西战中乙 主场今日首演" (in Chinese). sports.163.com. 2012-05-07. Archived from the original on 2015-01-07. Retrieved 2015-07-28.
4. "中乙积分榜：河北贵州夺头名 新疆男足无缘复赛" (in Chinese). sports.sohu.com. 2012-05-25. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2015-07-28.
5. "明日在海埂开始春训" (in Chinese). sports.dzwww.com. 2014-03-22. Archived from the original on 2018-10-06. Retrieved 2015-07-27.
6. "中乙-江西2–0擒太原夺冠 贵州2–0胜梅州获季军" (in Chinese). sports.sohu.com. 2014-10-25. Archived from the original on 2015-03-18. Retrieved 2015-07-29.
7. "中甲新军山西嘉怡或外迁 场地资金困难重重" (in Chinese). chinanews.com. 2014-12-08. Archived from the original on 2016-03-05. Retrieved 2015-07-29.
8. "关于太原中优嘉怡足球俱乐部有限公司工商迁移并更名的公示" (in Chinese). fa.org.cn. 2015-01-14. Archived from the original on 2017-11-07. Retrieved 2015-07-29.
9. "China – List of Champions". RSSSF. 20 March 2014. Archived from the original on 2014-07-04. Retrieved 2015-03-30.
10. "呼和浩特中优" (in Chinese). sodasoccer.com. Archived from the original on 2015-04-02. Retrieved 2015-03-31.

External links

• Club page at The Sport Website of Huhhot (archived 18 January 2017)