Shanghai Zobon F.C. ( Simplified Chinese: 上海中邦足球俱乐部) is a defunct football club that predominantly competed in the China League One division. Originally founded by Zhu Jun, the CEO of The9 Limited as an nondescript amateur club, it took over

Shanghai Tianna Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flowin ...

to turn professional before the 2004 season, played their home games in the 16,000 seater Yuanshen Sports Centre Stadium in Shanghai and won the China League Two championship in the exact same year. In 2008 Wei Ping took ownership of the club until on January 28, 2011,

Guizhou Zhicheng F.C. Guizhou FC (; ) was a professional Chinese football club. The team was based in Guiyang, Guizhou and their home stadium was the 51,636 seater Guiyang Olympic Sports Center. Their majority shareholders were Hengfeng Real Estate, Guizhou Zhicheng E ...

bought significant shares of the club for 5 million Yuan and thus began to merge the two clubs. The youth and reserve players were still allowed to play under the club's name in the third tier of Chinese football until they were sold-off to Shanghai East Asia F.C. on December 27, 2012 that eventually saw the club officially dissolved.

History

Formation

The club was founded near the turn of the century as Shanghai The 9 by Zhu Jun, the CEO of The9 Limited and finished 4th in the

2003 China Amateur Football League 3 (three) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 2 and preceding 4, and is the smallest odd prime number and the only prime preceding a square number. It has religious or cultural significance in many societie ...

. The following season would see the club merge with professional Chinese Yi league club

, and the new club would breeze through the third tier without losing a single game while winning the play-offs of the China League Two and gaining promotion to China League One at the end of the season. The club's first season in the second tier would see them finish ninth position within the league. Throughout the season the club's owner wanted to unify the team by renaming the team Shanghai United, however the team's lack of immediate success saw Zhu Jun abandon these plans so he could take over top tier Chinese side Shanghai Zobon instead.

Separation from Zhu Jun

In 2005, Zhu Jun and The9 Limited purchased Shanghai Zobon, a top tier Chinese Super League team and renamed the club Shanghai United instead and tried to merge the two clubs, however except for five players such as star midfielders Qi Hong and Jiang Kun, the rest of the players at the old Shanghai The 9 could not join the new Shanghai United, due to transfer rules in Chinese football. The remainder of the old Shanghai The 9 was bought by the Euro-China Group ( Simplified Chinese: 中欧集团) who renamed the team as Shanghai Stars and would make sure that the club would remain within the second tier. In the club's desperate attempts to remain within the league they would hire a string of managers including former player Shen Si, Peng Weiguo and

Cao Xiandong Cao Xiandong (Chinese:曹限东 born 19 August 1968) is a Chinese football coach and a former international midfielder. In his career, he represented Beijing Guoan where he won two Chinese FA Cups along with Qingdao Etsong Hainiu and Beijing Ku ...

to keep them within the league until the start of the 2008 league season, the club moved Wuxi,

Jiangsu Province Jiangsu (; ; pinyin: Jiāngsū, alternatively romanized as Kiangsu or Chiangsu) is an eastern coastal province of the People's Republic of China. It is one of the leading provinces in finance, education, technology, and tourism, with its ca ...

, to the 30,000 seater

Wuxi Sports Center Wuxi Sports Center (Simplified Chinese: 无锡市体育中心) is a multi-use stadium in Wuxi, China. It is currently used mostly for soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two ...

, and the club was renamed as Wuxi Zobon. The club would also bring in experienced manager

Ma Liangxing Ma Liangxing (; born 29 November 1957) is a Chinese football manager. Career Ma was the head coach of the China women's national team at the 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup was the fourth edition of the FIFA Wo ...

, however the move to a new city was not successful either on the field or off it and after only one year within Wuxi the club returned to Shanghai again in the 2009 league season. The club would bring in Shen Si again and was renamed as Shanghai Zobon as well as moving into the 16,000 seater

Pudong Yuanshen Sports Centre The Yuanshen Sports Centre Stadium () is a multi-purpose stadium in Shanghai. It is currently used mostly for association football matches. The stadium has a maximum seating capacity for 16,000 spectators. Apart from the stadium there is a 5,000 ...

Starting over again

On January 28, 2011

bought significant shares of the club for 5 million Yuan and thus began to merge the two clubs, while taking over the club's place in China League One. The former youth and reserve players were still allowed to play under the club's name in the third tier of Chinese football. This saw

Cheng Yaodong Cheng Yaodong (; born June 6, 1967 in Shanghai) is a Chinese football manager and a former international football player. As a player, he won the Chinese league and Cup with Shanghai Shenhua before ending his career with Shanghai COSCO Huili. ...

brought in to manage the team in the 2011 league campaign where he guided them to a fifth-place finish. He stayed on for another season until the management decided sell-off the remaining youth team players to Shanghai East Asia F.C. on December 27, 2012 that eventually marks the end of the club.

Name history

*–2005: Shanghai The 9 (上海九城) *2006–2007: Shanghai Stars (上海群英) *2008: Wuxi Zobon (无锡中邦) *2009–2012: Shanghai Zobon (上海中邦)

Honours

League *

Chinese Yi League Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **'' Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of v ...

(Third Tier League) : 2004

Results

*As of the end of 2012 season All-time League Rankings * in North Group

References

External links

Official Website

Shanghai Zobon F.C.
at

Sina.com Sina Corporation (, "new wave") is a Chinese technology company. Sina operates four major business lines: Sina Weibo, Sina Mobile, Sina Online, and Sinanet. Sina has over 100 million registered users worldwide. Sina was recognized by '' South ...

{{in lang, zh Defunct football clubs in China Football clubs in Shanghai Association football clubs disestablished in 2012 2012 disestablishments in China