About

Liaoning Football Club (simplified Chinese: 辽宁足球俱乐部; traditional Chinese: 遼寧足球俱樂部; pinyin: Liáoníng Zúqiú Jùlèbù), officially known as Liaoning Hongyun (simplified Chinese: 辽宁宏运; traditional Chinese: 遼寧宏運; pinyin: Liáoníng Hóngyùn), is a professional association football club that currently participates in the China League One under licence from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The team is based in Shenyang, Liaoning Province and their home stadium is the Tiexi New District Sports Center that has a seating capacity of 30,000. Their current majority shareholders are the Liaoning Sport Technology College and the Huludao Hongyun Group Co., Ltd, which is part of the real estate and financial conglomerate the Hongyun Group. The football club can predate their formation to 1953 when the local Shenyang government sports body joined existing club Northeast China to play in the Chinese national football league. By 1956 the league was gradually expanding and regional sports institutes were allowed their own representatives, which eventually formed Liaoning Football Club. The club won several league titles as well as the 1989–90 Asian Club Championship when they beat Nissan Yokohama in the final making Liaoning FC the first Chinese club to win an Asian club championship trophy. Since February 26, 1994 the current football team was established to be an entirely professional football club so they could play in the 1994 Chinese Jia-A League season, making them one of the founding members of the first fully professional top tier league in China. According to Forbes, Liaoning are the 10th most valuable football team in China, with a team value of $67 million, and an estimated revenue of $14 million in 2015.