Hunan Billows F.C.

Hunan Billows Football Club () is a professional Chinese football club that participates in the China League Two division under licence from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The team is based in Yiyang, Hunan and their home stadium is the 30,000-seat Yiyang Stadium. Their majority shareholders are the Hunan Provincial Sports Bureau and high-tech industry company Hunan Corun New Energy Co. Ltd.
The club was founded on December 26, 2006, and won the 2009 Chinese League Two title and promotion to the Chinese League One division, but was relegated back after the 2016 season.
History.
Formation.
To preserve the representation of Hunan province in the Chinese football league pyramid after the dissolution of Hunan Shoking, the local Hunan Provincial Sports Bureau decided that it would be best to invest in a new team for the area. On December 26, 2006, a new team was formed to participate in the 2007 league season called Hunan Billows F.C. with Xiong Ni returning as their chairman and Li Kejia returning as their manager. Now playing within the 6,000-seat Hunan Provincial People's Stadium. The team was completely rebuilt and played their first league game against Sichuan FC in a 1–0 defeat. Throughout the season the club's results improved and the team finished third in the Southern division. They made the play-offs but were knocked out in the second round. With a further investment of six million Yuan from the local Hunan government sports body, in the following season results the club gained another play-off position. Again they were knocked out in the second round. By the 2009 league season and with the continued investment of the local Hunan government sports body and of the management of Men Wenfeng, the club won the division title after they beat local rivals Hubei Greenery in the playoff final to win the division title.
In the second tier again, they moved back into the Helong Stadium and hired Zhao Faqing as their new manager at the beginning of the 2010 league season. The season began well for the club and they looked like genuine promotion contenders. Conflicts between the Hunan and the Hubei Greenery fans during their May 14 game seemed to derail their promotion push. They finished the season in sixth. The next season they moved into the 20,000-seat Central South University Stadium and brought in Miloš Hrstić to manage them. Miloš Hrstić's leadership improved the team's ranking at the end of the 2011 league season slightly – they finished fourth. He left the club at the end of the season and was replaced by his assistant coach Zhang Xu. In preparation for the 2012 league season the club brought in several high profile players such as Honduras internationals Emil Martínez and Erick Norales and Chinese international Dong Fangzhuo in their hopes to win promotion. The recruitment for not result in promotion that season, but it brought an increase in investment in from the Hunan Liuyang River Wine Winery Industry Co., Ltd., Zoomlion Company Limited, Central South Publishing & Media Group Co., Ltd., Kelme and the return of Hunan Corun New Energy co. ltd.
Hunan declined in the mid 2010s and were relegated back to League Two in 2016.
Grounds.
The team have played in several stadiums throughout their history. When they were formed they predominantly
used the 55,000-seat Helong Stadium in Changsha for their important matches. The more modest 6,000-seat Hunan Provincial People's Stadium which is also located in Changsha was used for their smaller games. With the club in financial difficulties the cost of renting the Helong Stadium led the team to move permanently into the Hunan Provincial People's Stadium. They started there when the club was reformed and they were playing in the third tier. When they won promotion back into the second tier, the Helong Stadium was an option for a brief period before 2011 when they have predominantly used the 20,000-seat Central South University Stadium in Changsha as their main stadium.
Current squad.
First team.
"As of 25 October 2020"
Results.
All-time league rankings
Key