Wikipedia - Hebei F.C.

Hebei Football Club (simplified Chinese: 河北足球俱乐部; traditional Chinese: 河北足球俱樂部; pinyin: Héběi Zúqiú Jùlèbù) was a professional Chinese football club that participated in the Chinese Super League division under licence from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The team was based in Langfang, Hebei. The club was dissolved in March 2023.

According to Forbes, Hebei was the 7th most valuable football team in China, with a team value of $90 million, and an estimated revenue of $22 million in 2015.

History

Hebei Zhongji was founded on 28 May 2010 by the Hebei football association and Hebei Zhongji Group who promised to invest three million Yuan a season for next four campaigns. They registered to play within China League Two, third tier of the Chinese football league system, as Hebei Yilin Shanzhuang (Simplified Chinese: 河北依林山庄) for sponsorship reasons in the 2011 league season. They failed to advance into the Play-offs after finishing in 5th place in the group stage. On 17 October 2011, the cooperation relationship between Hebei FA and Hebei Zhongji Group was terminated and Hebei Zhongji Group took full ownership of the club while the players who were owned by Hebei FA split into a new team called Hebei Youth. In the 2012 league season, Hebei Zhongji finished in 1st place in the North Group with 18 wins, 5 draws and only 1 defeat, however they were knocked out in the quarter-finals of the Play-offs by Hubei China-Kyle with the score at 1–1, losing on the away goals rule. On 16 August 2013 Guo Ruilong was brought in to manage the team for the rest of the 2013 league season, however during his brief tenure at the club he quickly led them to promotion after finishing runners-up at the end of the campaign. Huang Yang was brought in to coach the team during the off season while on December 26, 2013 the club announced that Uruguayan Nelson Agresta would be the club's first foreign manager.

On 27 January 2015, they changed the team name to Hebei China Fortune (Simplified Chinese: 河北华夏幸福 Archived 2013-04-01 at the Wayback Machine) after being purchased by China Fortune Land Development. Serbian manager Radomir Antić signed a three-year contract with the club on the same day. They changed the club name to Hebei China Fortune F.C. in December 2015 after winning promotion to Chinese Super League in the 2015 season. The club has since expanded its bid for league success by landing international stars such as Gervinho and Ezequiel Lavezzi. In August 2016, the Chilean Manuel Pellegrini became manager of the club, as part of a larger plan for Hebei China Fortune F.C. and Chinese football to make a great leap forward by the end of the decade. This process continued with the appointment of Chris Coleman on 10 June 2018.