Bayi Football Team

August First
Bāyī
八一
Full name The People's Liberation Army Bayi Football Club
中国人民解放军八一足球俱乐部
Nickname(s) August 1st
Founded 1927 (1927) (Amateur)
1951 (Semi-pro)
Dissolved 2003 (2003)
League Chinese Jia-A League
Chinese Jia-B League

August First Football Team (Chinese: 八一; pinyin: Bāyī) or its full name The People's Liberation Army Bayi Football Club (Simplified Chinese: 中国人民解放军八一足球俱乐部) was a football team under the sport branch of the People's Liberation Army (Simplified Chinese: 中国人民解放军) that played in China's football league system between 1951 and 2003 where they were predominantly based in Beijing.

The club was formed on August 1, 1927 by the People's Liberation Army and chose the name of Bayi (八一) meaning Ba (八) is for eight and Yi (一) is for one. Initially they started out as an amateur team who occasionally took part in multi-sport events until they took part in the 1951 inaugural Chinese national football league tournament. With their unprecedented monopoly of football talent taken from every army football team in the country they would establish themselves as one of the top teams within the league winning five national league titles in their history.

When the Chinese football league became a fully professional unit in the 1994 league season the club were given special dispensation to remain as semi-professional as possible by having all their members remain active military members while abstaining from foreign players and sponsorship. The cost of professionalism would see the club take on offers from cities that included Taiyuan, Xi'an, Kunming, Shijiazhuang, XinXiang, Liuzhou, Xiangtan and Hunan for financial reason. They also took sponsorship and changed their name to Bayi Zhengbang and Bayi Xiangtan, however these measures could not stop the club from relegation in 2003.[1] With a loss in prize money and stricter regulations from the Chinese Football Association the People's Liberation Army disbanded the club.

History

The club was formed on August 1, 1927 by the People's Liberation Army and chose the name of Bayi (八一) meaning Ba (八) is for eight and Yi (一) is for one.[2] Initially they started out as an amateur team who occasionally took part in the multi-sport event National Games of China. This would change when China's first fully nationalized national football league tournament started and the club was essentially re-established as a semi-professional unit to compete within the competition. While the club had a strict policey of only having active servicemen within their set-up they hired a professional coach in Dai Linjing as their Head coach in 1952 despite him being a civilian, however his professionalism saw the club go on to win the 1953 league title for the first time.[3]

The club would incorporate existing army football teams such as the Southwest Military Region, Nanjing Army Unit and Shenyang Army Unit football team to give themselves an unprecedented monopoly of football talent throughout the country while based in Beijing.[2] This saw them continue to be title contenders despite Dai Linjing leaving to take on the Chinese national team and the club employing from within when former player Chen Fulai took over the team in 1963.[4] Unfortuently because of the Chinese Cultural Revolution, football in China was halted and Bayi were unable to play any competitive fixtures until 1973. When the club joined the league again in 1974 they would actually improve and go on to win the league title that season.[5] Sustained dominance would see them go on to win the 1977, 1981 and 1986 league titles while also competing in the 1987 Asian Club Championship for the first time.[6]

The clubs reign as one of the most successful clubs in China would end with the advent of professionalism within the league. When the first fully professional league season started in 1994 the club were given special dispensation to remain as semi-professional as possible by having all their members remain active military members, however the club did start to take in sponsorship money to pay for the cost of running the club. At first little changed and the team even came third within the 1996 league season.[7] Where the club really struggled was their ability to hold on to their contingent of Chinese international players such as Hao Haidong, Hu Yunfeng and Jiang Jin who started to leave the club for better offers. This saw the club struggle being unable to replace them through the transfer market and ultimately see them relegated to the second tier for the first time in the clubs history. With less money coming in the club decided to disascoitate themselves from Beijing and took offers from other cities and sponsors to play for. They moved to Xinxiang and Liuzhou to accommodate their sponsors and while this worked for a brief period, which saw the club gain promotion back into the top tier the Chinese FA launched the rebranded Chinese Super League, which required more stringent conditions for the club to work in.[8] Unfortunately this coincided with the loss in form of the team who were relegated at the end of the 2003 league season. The loss of prize money and stricter regulations ultimately forced Bayi to disband.

Crest and name history

Results

All-time League Rankings

Year Div Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Pos. FA Cup Super Cup AFC Att./G Stadium
1951 1 7 4 1 2 22 10 +12 9 3    
1953 1 4 4 0 0 17 3 +14 6 1 W    
1957 1 11 7 3 1 23 5 +18 28 3    
1958 1 11 6 3 2 20 9 +11 26 12 2    
1960 1 14 7 4 3 30 12 +18 11 3 7 R1   
1961 1 16 12 4 0 31 4 +27 13 3 RU NH   
1962 1 19 16 1 2 41 12 +29 15 3 RU NH   
1963 1 9 8 1 0 24 8 +16 7 3 12 NH   
1964 1 22 12 4 6 24 17 +7 28 3 NH   
1965 1 11 6 1 4 19 14 +5 13 RU NH   
1974 1 19 14 4 1 44 7 +37 15 3 W NH   
1976 1 8 7 0 1 21 3 +18 14 1 1 NH   
1977 1 17 11 6 0 39 7 +32 7 3 W NH   
1978 1 30 17 10 3 56 20 +36 44 RU NH   
1979 1 30 12 13 5 35 20 +15 37 3 NH   
1980 1 29 10 10 9 35 25 +10 30 7 NH   
1981 1 30 25   5 50 W NH   
1982 1 30 18   12 46 21 +25 36 5 NH   
1983 1 16 10   6 33 20 +13 20 3 1 NH   
1984 1 30 17   13 40 37 +3 34 6 R1   
1985 1 15 12   3 +13 26 RU QF   DNQ
1986 1 14 8 5 1 25 8 +17 21 W R1   DNQ
1987 1 14 4 5 5 19 23 −4 17 5 NH   SF
1988 1 20 7 9 4 21 16 +5 34.5 8 NH   DNQ
1989 1 14 4 6 4 10 12 −2 20 4 NH   DNQ
1990 1 14 5 7 2 14 8 +6 27 RU W   DNQ
1991 1 14 5 4 5 15 15 0 15 5 R1   DNQ
1992 1 14 6 3 5 22 17 +5 15 4 R1   DNQ
1993 1 12 3 2/0 7 14 19 −5 10 5 NH   DNQ Jiangmen City Stadium
1994 1 22 6 9 7 15 19 −4 21 9 NH   DNQ 15,818 Beijing Fengtai Stadium
1995 1 22 5 8 9 24 23 +1 23 9 R1 DNQ DNQ 18,818
1996 1 22 8 11 3 28 19 +9 35 3 R2 DNQ DNQ 12,091
1997 1 22 5 10 7 22 34 −12 25 10 SF DNQ DNQ 16,000 Yutong International Sports Center
1998 1 26 8 5 13 27 37 −10 29 13 QF DNQ DNQ 16,769 Yutong International Sports Center
1999 2 22 10 6 6 35 25 +10 36 5 R2 DNQ DNQ Xinxiang City Sports Center
2000 2 22 9 9 4 34 19 +15 36 RU R2 DNQ DNQ
2001 1 26 5 10 11 24 36 −12 25 12 R1 DNQ DNQ 14,385 Liuzhou City Sports Centre
2002 1 28 6 12 10 27 41 −14 30 13 SF DNQ DNQ 13,429 Xiangtan City Sports Centre
2003 1 28 6 4 18 23 59 −36 22 14 R2 DNQ DNQ 13,071 Xiangtan City Sports Centre

No league games in 1954–1956, 1966–1973, 1975;

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

Honours

See also

References

  1. 中国足坛消失的那些球队 at sports.sohu.com 31 January 2013 Retrieved 6 April 2013
  2. 1 2 "新中国足球60年:钢铁兵工厂之八一足球队(组图)". sports.sina.com.cn. 17 September 2009. Retrieved 17 September 2014.
  3. "戴麟经". sodasoccer.com. Retrieved 17 September 2014.
  4. "陈福来". sodasoccer.com. Retrieved 17 September 2014.
  5. "China 1974". rsssf.com. 22 Oct 2009. Archived from the original on 22 August 2014. Retrieved 17 September 2014.
  6. "Asian Club Competitions 1987/88". rsssf.com. 31 Mar 2011. Archived from the original on 26 October 2015. Retrieved 17 September 2014.
  7. "China League 1996". rsssf.com. 19 June 2003. Archived from the original on 29 September 2012. Retrieved 17 September 2014.
  8. "中国球队消失多数因为钱 汉军退赛八一受困体制". sports.sohu.com. 13 November 2012. Retrieved 17 September 2014.
  9. 1 2 "China – List of Champions". rsssf.com. 10 Oct 2013. Retrieved 14 September 2014.
  10. "Bayi Xiangtan". uk.soccerway.com. Retrieved 14 September 2014.
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