 | |||
| Full name | Tianjin Tianhai Football Club 天津天海足球俱乐部 | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Founded | 6 June 2006; 18 years ago (6 June 2006) (as Hohhot Binhai F.C.) | ||
| Dissolved | 12 May 2020; 4 years ago (12 May 2020) | ||
| Ground | Tianjin Olympic Center Stadium | ||
| Capacity | 60,000 | ||
| 2019 | Super League, 14th | ||
Tianjin Tianhai F.C. (Chinese:天津天海足球俱乐部;pinyin:Tiānjīn Tiānhǎi Zúqiú Jùlèbù;Mandarin pronunciation:[tʰjɛ́n.tɕín.tʰjɛ́n.xàɪ]) was a Chinesefootball club. The team was based inTianjin.
On June 6, 2006, the Tianjin Binhai Holdings Limited company would form a new football team based inHohhot called Hohhot Binhai and would name former Chinese international playerHan Jinming as their manager. They would move into theHohhot People's Stadium while taking part at the bottom of the Chinese pyramid within the third tier at the start of the 2007 league season. By May 5, 2007, Tianjin Songjiang Sports Culture Industry Co. Ltd would take a controlling interest within the club and hired another former Chinese international player inHao Haidong to be the club's general manager.[1] When the club finished in a disappointing fifth within the group stages of the division it was decided that the club needed significant restructuring, which saw Hao Haidong named as chairman, Han Jinming moved to General management,Zhang Xiaorui was named as the new manager and lastly the entire team was moved toTianjin to play within theHedong Sports Centre.[2]While under Zhang Xiaorui's reign results gradually improved, however while the club were constant play-off contenders they could not gain promotion and he was soon replaced by the BelgiumPatrick De Wilde who guided the club to a runners-up spot and promotion at the end of the2010 league season.[3]
By the 2011 season the club had already moved into the 60,000 seaterTianjin Olympic Center Stadium, however despite their grand settings the team would struggle within the division and narrowly avoided relegation at the end of the season.[4] This saw Patrick De Wilde exit soon after and the club decided to promote his assistant as well as Hao Haidong's cousinHao Haitao into the management chair. In the 2012 league season Hao Haitao would actually guide the club to their best ever finish of sixth within the league, however at the end of the campaign Li Weiqi (李微奇) took over Hao Haidong's position as chairman and Hao Haitao followed his cousin in leaving the club.[5] At the start of the2013 league seasonPei Encai was brought in as Head coach, however he left the team four games before the end of the season due to the passing away of his mother, which saw Zhang Xiaorui return to the club as a caretaker manager.[6] Italian Gianni Bortoletto was brought in at the beginning of the2014 league season, initially as a technical director before accepting the Head coach position but after a series of disappointing results he was fired on 14 June 2014.[7] On 23 June 2014 Portuguese managerManuel Cajuda came in for the remainder of the season.[8] The club would once again start the following season with a new manager when Croatian coachDražen Besek joined the team 15 December 2014.[9] After a series of defeats, Besek was replaced by another Croatian inGoran Tomić who joined the management on 12 May 2015.[10]
On 7 July 2015Quanjian Nature Medicine officially took over the club.[11] This would be their second foray into Chinese football after their sponsorship ofTianjin Teda F.C. abruptly came to an end on 30 June 2015 after a public dispute occurred on who had control over the club's player transfers, particularly in the attempted signing of the Chinese international playerSun Ke.[12] At the start of the2016 season the club would go through a complete overhaul, they would redesign a new badge that reflected Quanjian Nature Medicine's own logo, change the club's colours to a light blue, bring in experienced Brazilian coachVanderlei Luxemburgo along with international players inLuís Fabiano,Jádson Rodrigues da Silva,Zhao Xuri and the player the owners originally attempted to sign, Sun Ke.[13] On 22 October 2016, under the guidance ofFabio Cannavaro, Tianjin Quanjian defeatedMeizhou Hakka 3–0 to win the2016 China League One title and gain promotion to the2017 Chinese Super League.[14]
At the start of the2017 Chinese Super League season the owners once again decided to change the team's home colours from a light blue to an all red uniform.[15] After signing a world-class midfielder inAxel Witsel,[16] the club cruised to third place in the2017 season and advance to the2018 AFC Champions League, qualifying to the continental tournament for the first time.
Quanjian Group was accused of illegal multi-level marketing and false advertisement in December 2018. After the arrest of club leader and Quanjian Group owner Shu Yuhui, the club asked the local FA to take over operations and changed its name to Tianjin Tianhai in January 2019.[17][18][19]
On 12 May 2020, Tianjin Tianhai announced that the club was dissolved.[20] This disbandment savedShenzhen Kaisa from being relegated to the2020 China League One.
        2006[21] |    2009[22] |  2016 |    2017 |
Han Jinming (2007)Zhang Xiaorui (2008–09)Hao Haidong (caretaker) (2010)
Patrick de Wilde (2010–11)Hao Haitao (2012)Pei Encai (2013) Zhang Xiaorui (caretaker) (2013)
Gianni Bortoletto (2014)
Manuel Cajuda (2014)
Dražen Besek (2014–2015) Sun Jianjun (caretaker) (2015)Goran Tomić (2015)
Vanderlei Luxemburgo (2015–2016)Fabio Cannavaro (2016–2017)Paulo Sousa (2017–2018)Shen Xiangfu (caretaker) (2018)
Park Choong-kyun (2018)Choi Kang-hee (2018–2019)Shen Xiangfu (2019)Park Choong-kyun (2019)Li Weifeng (2019)| Year | Tier | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Pos | FA Cup | Super Cup | Asia | Att./G | Stadium |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | 3 | 14 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 19 | 19 | 0 | 18 | 5 1 | NH | DNQ | DNQ | Hohhot People's Stadium | |
| 2008 | 3 | 18 | 12 | 2 | 4 | 36 | 14 | 22 | 29 2 | 5[25] | NH | DNQ | DNQ | Hedong Sports Centre | |
| 2009 | 3 | 14 | 4 | 7 | 3 | 18 | 15 | 3 | 18 2 | 9[26] | NH | DNQ | DNQ | Shuidi Outer Stadium | |
| 2010 | 3 | 19 | 11 | 5 | 3 | 32 | 12 | 20 | 35 2 | RU | NH | DNQ | DNQ | Tianjin Olympic Center Stadium | |
| 2011 | 2 | 26 | 5 | 10 | 11 | 23 | 31 | −8 | 25 | 12 | R1 | DNQ | DNQ | ||
| 2012 | 2 | 30 | 12 | 9 | 9 | 27 | 24 | 3 | 45 | 6 | R2 | DNQ | DNQ | 2,998 | Tianjin Tuanbo Football Stadium |
| 2013 | 2 | 30 | 8 | 11 | 11 | 31 | 36 | −5 | 35 | 10 | R3 | DNQ | DNQ | 2,247 | |
| 2014 | 2 | 30 | 12 | 7 | 11 | 39 | 33 | 6 | 43 | 7 | R3 | DNQ | DNQ | 2,511 | |
| 2015 | 2 | 30 | 9 | 9 | 12 | 28 | 33 | −5 | 36 | 9 | R3 | DNQ | DNQ | 7,369 | |
| 2016 | 2 | 30 | 18 | 5 | 7 | 61 | 27 | 34 | 59 | W | QF | DNQ | DNQ | 12,165 | Haihe Educational Football Stadium |
| 2017 | 1 | 30 | 15 | 9 | 6 | 46 | 33 | 13 | 54 | 3 | QF | DNQ | DNQ | 24,877 | |
| 2018 | 1 | 30 | 9 | 9 | 12 | 41 | 48 | −7 | 36 | 9 | R16 | DNQ | QF | 19,695 | |
| 2019 | 1 | 30 | 4 | 13 | 13 | 40 | 53 | -13 | 25 | 14 | QF | DNQ | DNQ | 16,907 | Tianjin Olympic Center Stadium |
Key
| Season | Competition | Round | Opposition | Home | Away | Rank /Agg. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | AFC Champions League | Group stage |  Kitchee | 3–0 | 1–0 | 2nd |
 Kashiwa Reysol | 3–2 | 1–1 | ||||
| Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors | 4–2 | 3–6 | ||||
| Round of 16 | Guangzhou Evergrande | 0–0 | 2–2 | 2–2 (a) | ||
| Quarter-finals | Kashima Antlers | 0–3 | 0–2 | 0–5 |
Had international caps for their respective countries.
Axel Witsel (2017–2018)
Taavi Rähn (2011–2012)
Aleksandar Rodić (2011–2012)Jádson (2016)Luís Fabiano (2016)Alexandre Pato (2017–2019)Zhang Xiaorui (2008)Huang Yong (2009–2010)Yang Jun (2015–2018)Zhang Shuo (2015–2017)Sun Ke (2016–2020)Zhao Xuri (2016–2018)Zhang Lu (2016–2020)Ng Wai Chiu (2013–2016)Jean-Jacques Kilama (2016–2017)Kwon Kyung-won (2017–2020)
