Changchun Yatai

Chángchūn Yàtài

China

Changchun Yatai Football Club (simplified Chinese: 长春亚泰; traditional Chinese: 長春亞泰; pinyin: Chángchūn Yàtài) is a professional Chinese football club that currently participates in the China League One division under licence from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The team is based in Changchun, Jilin and their home stadium is the Changchun Stadium that has a seating capacity of 25,000. The club's founder and main investor is the private Chinese conglomerate Jilin Yatai Group. The club was formed on June 6, 1996 before making their debut in the third tier of China's football league pyramid in the 1997 league season. In 2000 they bought a position into the second division after they merged with Bayi Chaoneng. In 2001 they finished runners-up within their division, however they were denied promotion after they were embroiled in a match-fixing scandal. The club would reform and re-apply for a CFA playing license before they eventually gained promotion to China's top flight at the end of the 2005 league campaign. In the 2007 Chinese Super League they won the league title and participated in the 2008 AFC Champions League for the first time. They have since gone on to come second within 2009 Chinese Super League and also participated in the 2010 AFC Champions League.