Zibo Cuju F.C.

Zibo Cuju
淄博蹴鞠
Full name	Zibo Cuju Football Club; 淄博蹴鞠足球俱乐部
Founded	June 1982; 39 years ago
Ground	Zibo Sports Center Stadium, Zibo
Chairman	He Shihua (何世华)
Manager	Park Chul
League	China League One
2021	League One, 11th of 18
Home colours	Away colours

Zibo Cuju Football Club (Chinese: 淄博蹴鞠足球俱乐部) is a professional Chinese football club that currently participates in the China League One. The team is based in Zibo.

History[]

Zibo Sunday was founded in June 1982 inspired by the 1982 FIFA World Cup. As the founders of the team mainly played football together on Sunday, they used Sunday as the club's name. They officially registered as an amateur club on 18 July 1996. Zibo Sunday finished the third place in the 2011 AFC Vision China Championship and won qualification for the 2012 Chinese FA Cup, which they lost to China League Two club Dongguan Nancheng 3–0.^[1] On 30 September 2017, Zibo Sunday won promotion to China League Two after they advanced to semi-final of 2017 China Amateur Football League by beating Lhasa Urban Construction Investment 1–0,^[2] and eventually, winning the entire Championship by beating Anhui Hefei Guiguan in the final. After competing in 2018 China League Two and ending up in a mid-table finish, Zibo Sunday F.C. changed their name to Zibo Cuju F.C. in January 2019,^[3] stressing the significance of Zibo being the home of Cuju, a form of proto-football sport in ancient China.

Name history[]

1982–2018 Zibo Sunday S.C. 淄博星期天
2019– Zibo Cuju F.C. 淄博蹴鞠

Current squad[]

First team[]

As of 31 July 2021^[4]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
1	GK	CHN	Dong Yifan
2	DF	CHN	Wu Haoran
4	DF	CHN	Zhang Hongjiang
5	DF	CHN	Ötkür Hesen (on loan from Sichuan Jiuniu)
7	MF	CHN	Li Benjian
8	MF	CHN	Chen Zitong
9	FW	CHN	Nan Yunqi
10	FW	CHN	He Shihua (Owner of the club)
11	MF	CHN	Sun Weizhe
12	GK	CHN	Gu Junjie
13	DF	CHN
14	DF	CHN	Wei Renjie (on loan from Shaanxi Chang'an Athletic)
15	DF	CHN	Lu Yao
16	FW	CHN	Han Yi
17	FW	CHN	Liu Ziming (on loan from Cangzhou Mighty Lions)
19	FW	CHN	Yan Yiming


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
23	MF	CHN	Wang Chengkuai (on loan from Shenzhen)
24	MF	CHN	Quan Heng
25	DF	CHN	Li Chenguang
26	FW	CHN	Mai Sijing
28	FW	CHN	Li Yingjian
30	MF	CHN	Ma Long (on loan from Qingdao)
32	GK	CHN	Li Xuebo (on loan from Dalian Pro)
33	MF	CHN	Jiang Yu
34	MF	CHN	Lü Pin (on loan from Shanghai Shenhua)
35	DF	CHN	Sun Xiaobin
36	DF	CHN	Xu Yougang (on loan from Shanghai Shenhua)
37	FW	CHN	Jin Bo (on loan from Guangzhou City)
41	DF	CHN
42	MF	CHN

Reserve squad[]

As of 31 July 2021

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
3	DF	CHN	Liu Junpeng
20	DF	CHN
22	MF	CHN	Yu Zeping


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
27	MF	CHN
-	GK	CHN

Coaching staff[]

Position	Staff
Head coach	Park Chul
Assistant coach

Source: CFA

Managerial history[]

Liu Mengyang (2015)
Zhang Chonglai (2016)
Liu Meng (2017)
(2018–2020)
Park Chul (2021–)

Results[]

All-time league rankings

As of the end of 2019 season.^[5]

Year	Div	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Pos.	FA Cup	Super Cup	AFC	Other		Att./G	Stadium
	4									DNQ¹	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	VCC ²	3
	4									DNQ¹	R1	DNQ	DNQ	VCC ²	3
	4									12	R1	DNQ	DNQ
	4									DNQ¹	R1	DNQ	DNQ
	4									DNQ¹	QR	DNQ	DNQ
2016	4									Group	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ
2017	4									W	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ				Zibo Sports Center Stadium
2018	3	28	12	5	11	38	32	6	41	19	R2	DNQ	DNQ			1,485
2019	3	30	22	3	5	60	13	47	69³	7	R4	DNQ	DNQ

^1 Did not qualify to the final stage. ^2 AFC Vision China Championship. ^3 In group stage.

Key

	China top division
	China second division
	China third division
	China fourth 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[]

^ "足协杯-东莞南城3–0淘汰淄博星期天次轮对阵松江". sina. 26 May 2012. Retrieved 16 October 2017.
^ "新历史!淄博星期天进中丙四强山东足球新增乙级队". sina. 30 September 2017. Retrieved 16 October 2017.
^ "关于淄博星期天足球俱乐部有限公司更名的公告". thecfa.cn (in Chinese). 2019-01-30. Retrieved 2019-01-30.
^ "淄博蹴鞠队2021赛季全家福及一线队大名单". Wechat (in Chinese). 22 April 2021. Retrieved 22 April 2021.
^ "淄博星期天" (in Chinese). sodasoccer.com. Retrieved 16 October 2017.

[1] "足协杯-东莞南城3–0淘汰淄博星期天次轮对阵松江". sina. 26 May 2012. Retrieved 16 October 2017.

[2] "新历史!淄博星期天进中丙四强山东足球新增乙级队". sina. 30 September 2017. Retrieved 16 October 2017.

[3] "关于淄博星期天足球俱乐部有限公司更名的公告". thecfa.cn (in Chinese). 2019-01-30. Retrieved 2019-01-30.

[4] "淄博蹴鞠队2021赛季全家福及一线队大名单". Wechat (in Chinese). 22 April 2021. Retrieved 22 April 2021.

[5] "淄博星期天" (in Chinese). sodasoccer.com. Retrieved 16 October 2017.

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v t China League One
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