About

Qingdao Hainiu Football Club (simplified Chinese: 青岛海牛; traditional Chinese: 青島海牛; pinyin: Qīngdǎo Zhōngnéng, known as Hai-niu or literally Sea Bull) is a professional Chinese football club that currently participates in the China League Two division under licence from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The team is based in Qingdao, Shandong and their home stadium is the Qingdao Tiantai Stadium that has a seating capacity of 20,525. Their current owners are the privately owned cable manufacturer 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 Hainiu. 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.