Qingdao Hainiu F.C.

Qingdao Hainiu Football Club is a Chinese professional football club based in Qingdao, Shandong, that competes in. Qingdao Hainiu plays its home matches at the Qingdao Youth Football Stadium, located within Chengyang District. Their current owners are the privately owned cable manufacturers Qingdao Jonoon Group.

The club was founded as Shandong Economic and Trade Commission Football Club in 1990 and started at the bottom of the Chinese football league pyramid in the third tier. On December 31, 1993, they became the first professional club in Qingdao and changed its name to Qingdao Manatee. They went on to establish themselves as a top-tier club and won their first major trophy in 2002 by winning the Chinese FA Cup on November 16, 2002, when they beat Liaoning Bird. In the mid-2010s the club started to decline and fell down two leagues, being relegated twice in 4 seasons.

History
Qingdao Jonoon Football Club started out as Shandong Economic and Trade Commission F.C. in 1990 by some retired footballers at the corporation affiliated with Shandong economic and trade commission associated with some workers at Qingdao Municipal Sanatorium. After playing in the Chinese Yi League for three seasons, the club finished as Second Division Champions and won promotion to the Chinese Jia-B League in 1992 – the club's first league title. As required by Chinese Football Association, on 31 December 1993, the club set up a professional system and became the first professional football club in Qingdao. Subsequently, the club was renamed to Qingdao Manatee F.C., the Chinese name for manatee, "海牛 (hainiu, literally 'sea bull')", also being the nickname for the foghorn in Tuandao Lighthouse due to the sound it emits.

Qingdao Manatee finished as the Chinese Jia-B League Champions and won promotion to the Chinese Jia-A League in 1994. In the following season, the club was invited to compete the Tainland Queen's Cup and achieved the third place with 2 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss – the club's first international honour. However, in domestic league the club was relegated to the Division 1B after losing an epic battle against Sichuan Quanxing 2–3. In 1996, the club appointed Wu Hongyue as manager, who led the team to a second-place league finish and regained promotion to the Division 1A. Soon after that season, the state-run tobacco producer – Qingdao Etsong Group started to invest the club, which changed its name to Qingdao Etsong Hainiu F.C. the following year. From 1997 season, the club became a regular member of the top division and was never relegated since then. On November 16, 2002, after beating Liaoning Bird 2–0 in Etsong Sports Center, the club won its first major trophy: the 2002 Chinese FA Cup.

After eight-year management by Etsong Group, the club was transferred to a privately owned cable manufacturer – Qingdao Jonoon Group and dropped the long term icon "Hainiu" from its name in December 2004. The club's new owner slashed down the budget greatly, sold up all notable players and assigned the former Jinan taishan's coach Yin Tiesheng as manager, who is famous for his defending style. In the following three seasons, Yin brought Jonoon to stay firmly in the middle position of the league. In 2008, after Yin's assignment as assistant coach of China Olympic team, the club promoted the assistant coach Guo Kanfeng as head coach and retained eighth place in that season. After six-round terrible management in the following season, Guo was sacked by the club and former notable Serbian coach Slobodan Santrač took over as manager. Though finished at thirteenth place, the team played a beautiful attacking soccer style and even the attacking combination was duplicated by the National Team head coach Gao Hongbo. Soon after 2009 season, the club surprisingly sacked Santrač and reassigned Guo as actual head coach, with Dragan Jovanovič assigned as nominal head coach due to Gu's lack of qualification. In 2010, the club endured a horrible season and lost the last match against Hangzhou Greentown 0–1, but surprisingly survived from relegation in the fourteenth place.

In the 2013 league season the team's manager Chang Woe-Ryong was sacked from the club despite the team sitting in tenth. The club would experience relegation at the end of the season and the club's owners publicly declared that one of their own players in Gabriel Melkam was match fixing, which resulted in their relegation. Gabriel Melkam would claim that the accusations of match-fixing were a ploy by the owners not to pay his wages and he took his case to FIFA. While this was going on further claims of mismanagement would arise with the transfer of the club's captain Liu Jian move to Guangzhou Evergrande when it was discovered that the club had forged an extension in his contract. In the 2014 league season the club were found guilty for breaking the Chinese FA's rules and were deducted 7 points.

In 2016 Qingdao Jonoon finished second-to-last in the League One and were relegated to the third level of the Chinese league system. Qingdao Huanghai, another team in the League One in the same city, started to get more attention. Qingdao had no more foreign players by 2019. In the 2019 season, there were deducted six points for a rule violation.

Kits and colours
The club's first choice of home kit colors were all red and they did not have a badge until they won promotion. When they won promotion they changed the club's home kit colors to yellow and their name to Qingdao Manatee (海牛), which Chinese name also literally means "Sea Bull", which directly influenced their badge design, which was simply a bull. The owners Etsong Group decided to rebrand the club once more with a new badge, which was a simple striped design with the new owners name at the top while the new kit colors became red and white. With Jonoon Group coming in as their new sponsor the club changed their colors once again to blue while using red as their new away colors. When the Jonoon Group took over they incorporated their own logo of two tigers merged as the club's new badge and chose orange as the new home colors because they believe it represents "passion and energy" as well as also being the same color of their own brand.

Grounds
The current home stadium of Qingdao Hainiu is the Qingdao Youth Football Stadium, which opened in 2023.

The previous stadium of Qingdao Hainiu Football Club was Qingdao Tiantai Stadium, which is also known as Qingdao First Stadium. Tiantai Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium built in 1933 as Qingdao Municipal Stadium, and was renamed Qingdao First Stadium in 1955. Qingdao Jonoon started to play in Tiantai Stadium in the first three professional seasons, and resided there permanently from 2007 to 2019.

Current coaching staff
🇧🇬 Georgi Iliev 🇧🇬 Aleksandar Georgiev 🇨🇳 Hu Jun

Managerial history
Information correct as of end of 2023 league season.


 * 🇨🇳 Wang Shouye (1990–91)
 * 🇨🇳 Liu Guojiang (1992)
 * 🇨🇳 Wang Shouye (1993–94)
 * 🇨🇳 Xu Yonglai (1995)
 * 🇨🇳 Wu Hongyue (1996)
 * 🇨🇳 Liu Guojiang (1997)
 * 🇨🇳 Li Yingfa (1998)
 * 🇰🇷 Kim Jung-Nam (1999)
 * 🇨🇳 Guo Zuojin (Caretaker) (1999)
 * 🇨🇳 Wang Shouye (Caretaker) (1999)
 * 🇨🇳 Yang Weijian (Caretaker) (1999)
 * 🇷🇸 Miloljub Ostojić (2000)
 * 🇨🇳 Guo Zuojin (2000–01)
 * 🇰🇷 Lee Jang-Soo (2002–03)
 * 🇨🇳 Tang Lepu (2004)
 * 🇨🇳 Wang Weiman (Caretaker) (2004)
 * 🇨🇳 Yin Tiesheng (2005–07)
 * 🇨🇳 Guo Kanfeng (2008–09)
 * 🇷🇸 Slobodan Santrač (April 30, 2009 – Nov 11, 2009)
 * 🇷🇸 Dragan Jovanovič (2010) The actual manager is Guo Kanfeng
 * 🇨🇳 Ji Yujie (2010) The actual manager is Guo Kanfeng
 * 🇰🇷 Chang Woe-Ryong (Jan 1, 2011 – Dec 31, 2011)
 * Blaž Slišković (Jan 20, 2012 – March 13, 2012)
 * 🇨🇳 Yang Weijian (Caretaker) (2012)
 * 🇰🇷 Chang Woe-Ryong (May 24, 2012 – Aug 20, 2013)
 * 🇨🇳 Li Yingfa (Caretaker) (Aug 20, 2013 – Sept 5, 2013)
 * 🇷🇸 Goran Stevanović (Sept 5, 2013 – Oct 30, 2013)
 * 🇨🇳 Li Xiaopeng (Oct 30, 2013–22 July 2014)
 * Tomaž Kavčič (24 July 2014 – 5 October 2015)
 * 🇷🇸 Dragan Stančić (Caretaker) (5 October 2015 – 15 December 2015)
 * 🇨🇳 Su Maozhen (15 December 2015 – 6 September 2016)
 * 🇨🇳 Yin Tiesheng (6 September 2016 – 25 December 2017)
 * 🇷🇸 Goran Stevanović (25 December 2017 – 14 June 2018)
 * 🇷🇸 Aleksandar Kristić (14 June 2018 – 23 December 2019)
 * 🇨🇳 Zhu Jiong (23 December 2019 – 18 January 2021)
 * 🇨🇳 Yin Tiesheng (19 January 2021 – 12 February 2023)
 * 🇪🇸 Antonio Carreño (13 February 2023 – 22 December 2023)
 * 🇧🇬 Yasen Petrov (25 December 2023–)

Honours
Qingdao Jonoon's first trophy was the Chinese Yi League Champions, which it won as Shandong Economic and Trade Commission in 1992. In 1995, the club won its first international honour as Qingdao Hainiu – the Thailand Queen's Cup third place. In 2002, the club won its first major trophy – the China FA Cup, which allowed to enter the Chinese FA Super Cup where they came Runners-up that season.

Domestic Reserve team
 * Chinese FA Cup
 * Winners: 2002
 * Chinese Football Super Cup
 * Runners-up: 2002
 * Chinese Jia-B League / China League One (level 2)
 * Champions: 1994
 * Runners-up: 1993, 1996, 2022
 * Chinese Yi League / China League Two (level 3)
 * Champions: 1992, 2021
 * Coca-Cola Olympic League Champions: 2
 * 1998, 1999

Youth team:
 * U19 FA Cup Winners: 1
 * 2006

International

 * Queen's Cup Third-place: 1
 * 1995

Player honours
Chinese Football Association Young Player of the Year Best 11 in the Chinese Football Association Team of the year
 * 🇨🇳 Qu Bo – 2000
 * 🇨🇳 Song Wenjie – 2012
 * 🇨🇳 Chen Gang – 1999, DF
 * 🇨🇳 Liu Jian – 2007, MF
 * 🇨🇳 Qu Bo – 2009, FW

Results
All-time league rankings


 * As of the end of 2023 season.


 * In final group stage. : No promotion. : 2 points each win. : No relegation.: Deducted 7 points.: Deducted 6 points.


 * Queen's Cup results

Key


 * 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

All-time top scorers
Since 1994 the first professional league season. CFA Cup and CSL Cup are included. Correct as the end of season 2011.

Top league scorers each season
Since 1994 the first professional league season. Correct as of 2 July 2012.

Matches

 * First Jia-B League match: Shandong Economic and Trade Commission 3–0 Jiangsu, 17 January 1993
 * First Professional League match: Qingdao Manatee 3–2 Henan Construction, 17 April 1994
 * First Jia-A League match: Guangzhou Apollo 1–0 Qingdao Manatee, 16 April 1995
 * First FA Cup match: Qingdao Manatee 0–1 Liaoning Dongyao, 25 June 1995
 * First Super Cup match: Qingdao Etsong Hainiu 0–1 Dalian Shide, 6 February 2003
 * First Super League match: Qingdao Etsong Hainiu 2–2 Shanghai International, 16 May 2004
 * First League Cup match: Qingdao Etsong Hainiu 2–1 Liaoning Zhongyu, 2 June 2004

Record wins

 * Record win: 6–1 v Chongqing Lifan, Super League, 8 August 2009
 * Record League win: 6–1 v Chongqing Lifan, Super League, 8 August 2009
 * Record Super League win: 6–1 v Chongqing Lifan, 8 August 2009
 * Record FA Cup win: 4–0
 * v Guizhou Zhicheng, 27 June 2012


 * Record League home win: 6–1 v Chongqing Lifan, Super League, 8 August 2009
 * Record League away win: 5–1 v Changsha Ginde, Super League, 11 October 2008

Record defeats

 * Record defeat: 0–7 v Chongqing Longxin, 30 May 1999
 * Record League defeat: 0–5 v Yunnan Hongta, Jia-A League, 10 June 2001
 * Record Super League defeat: 0–4
 * v Shandong Luneng, 22 August 2007
 * v Tianjin Teda, 8 September 2007
 * v Jiangsu Sainty, 22 August 2010


 * Record FA Cup defeat: 0–7 v Chongqing Longxin, 30 May 1999
 * Record League home defeat: 0–4 v Shandong Luneng, Super League, 22 August 2007
 * Record League away defeat: 0–5 v Yunnan Hongta, Jia-A League, 10 June 2001

Player records

 * Most goals in a season in all competition: 12 – Qu Bo, Super League, 2009
 * Most League goals in a season: 12 – Qu Bo, Super League, 2009
 * Top scorer with fewest goals in a season: 4 – Zhang Jun, Jia-A League, 1997
 * Most goals scored in a match: 3 – Jiang Ning v Chongqing Lifan, 29 March 2006
 * Fastest Goal: 20 seconds – Peng Weijun v Yunnan Hongta, 2 April 2000
 * First hat-trick: Jiang Ning v Chongqing Lifan, 29 March 2006

Notable players
Had international caps for their respective countries.

Asia Africa Europe Central & North America South America
 * 🇺🇿 Ildar Magdeev
 * 🇺🇿 Aziz Ibragimov
 * 🇺🇿 Sherzod Karimov
 * George Mourad
 * 🇦🇺 Joel Griffiths
 * Wang Chien-ming
 * 🇨🇳 Jiang Ning
 * 🇨🇳 Xu Yang
 * 🇨🇳 Zheng Long
 * 🇿🇦 Mark Williams
 * James Phiri
 * 🇿🇲 Evans Kangwa
 * 🇳🇬 Benedict Akwuegbu
 * 🇧🇫 Abdoul-Aziz Nikiema
 * 🇧🇫 Adama Guira
 * 🇭🇷 Miroslav Bičanić
 * 🇺🇦 Oleksandr Holovko
 * Aleksandar Rodić
 * 🇧🇦 Ninoslav Milenković
 * 🇧🇦 Elvis Sarić
 * 🇷🇸 Aleksandar Andrejević
 * 🇭🇳 Mitchel Brown
 * 🇭🇳 Luis Santamaría
 * 🇨🇷 Mauricio Castillo
 * 🇭🇳 Osman Chávez
 * 🇭🇳 Jorge Claros
 * 🇭🇳 Eddie Hernández
 * 🇺🇾 Adrián Paz