Beijing Institute of Technology FC

Football club infobox
clubname = Beijing Institute of Technology Football Club
北京理工大学足球俱乐部


fullname = Beijing Institute of Technology FC
北京理工大学足球俱乐部
nickname = 北理工 (BIT)
founded = 2000
ground = BIT Eastern Athletic Field, Beijing
capacity = 1,600
chairman = Flagicon|CHN Hu Haiyan 胡海岩
manager = Flagicon|CHN Cao Xiandong 曹限东
league = China Jia League
season = 2007
position = 11th
pattern_la1=|pattern_b1=|pattern_ra1=
leftarm1=FF6633|body1=FF6633|rightarm1=FF6633|shorts1=FF6633|socks1=FF6633
pattern_la2=|pattern_b2=|pattern_ra2=
leftarm2=FFFFFF|body2=FFFFFF|rightarm2=FFFFFF|shorts2=FFFFFF|socks2=FFFFFF

Beijing Institute of Technology Football Club (BIT FC) (Simplified Chinese: 北京理工大学足球俱乐部) is a Chinese football (soccer) club playing in the Chinese Football Association Jia League. Founded in 2000, the team is owned by the Beijing Institute of Technology (BIT). All players, including few foreign players, are full-time students at the BIT.

History

College football powerhouse

Before playing in the professional Jia League, the team was widely considered one of the best teams in Chinese collegiate football.

It participated in the Chinese Collegiate Football League (Simplified Chinese: 中国大学生足球联赛) since the founding of the league in 2001. From 2001 to 2006, the team won the national championship for 4 times in 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2006.

The BIT team also represented Chinese football team in the 2003 Summer Universiade Game and won the 7th place. The team was again chosen to represent China at the 2005 Summer Universiade Game.

Professional football

In 2006, the team won the championship title of the semi-professional Chinese Football Association Yi League and was promoted to the professional Jia League. The promotion drew great attention in the nation, because it was the first time a team consisting of full-time college students won such a promotion. However, concerns were also raised regarding the impact that professional football will have on the students and whether a university should allow its sports team to participate in a professional league.

In 2007 season, the team finished as the 11th out of the 13 teams in the league and will keep playing in the league in the 2008 season. During the same season, the team was renamed to the Beijing Aigo College Student Football Team (Simplified Chinese: 北京爱国者大学生足球队) due to the financial sponsorship from the Beijing Huaqi Information Digital Technology Co., Ltd, which owns the Aigo brand.

Current Staff

* Club Chairman: Hu Haiyan
* Executive Chairman: Yang Bin
* Senior Head Coach: Jin Zhiyang
* Head Coach: Cao Xiandong
* Team Adviser: Huang Jianxiang

Current squad

"As of 29 April, 2008"

External links

* [http://sports.sina.com.cn/aigo-bit/index.shtml Official Website] (Chinese)
* [http://www.chinasportstour.com Play games with BIT Football team]

Frasers Property (UK) Ltd and FairBriar Holdings Ltd