Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
How they qualified: Winners - Chinese FA Cup 2011
Established 1998
Nickname Jinmen Tigers
Home stadium Tianjin Teda Football Stadium (37,000)
Website http://sports.enorth.com.cn/teda/
Club Honours
Chinese FA Cup winners 2 – 1960, 2011
Previous ACL appearances
2009 – Group stage
2011 – Round of 16
After they missed out on the knockout stage of the AFC Champions League on their debut in 2009 because of a poor start to the tournament, Tianjin got out of the blocks quickly last year when they took maximum points from their first two games and qualified for the last 16 with a game to spare.
However, a lack of composure in their final group game against Gamba Osaka ultimately proved costly for the Chinese side. Four Tianjin players, who were already on yellow cards, were booked in the final 11 minutes of their 2-0 defeat and goalkeeper Yang Qipeng was sent off after bringing down a Gamba player on a breakaway in stoppage time. That left Tianjin without five key men for their round of 16 clash at Jeonbuk Motors, which they lost 3-0.
Having finished no lower than sixth in the previous seven Chinese Super League seasons, Tianjin were a huge disappointment in 2011 when they finished a lowly 10th.
But they salvaged their campaign with a 2-1 win over Shandong Luneng in the FA Cup final, which earned them a berth in the AFC Champions League for the third time in four seasons.
Expectations
**With a much-changed side from last year following the departure of coach Arie Haan and import players Marko Zoric and Luciano Olguin, Tianjin will be hard-pressed to make it past the group stage once again. They must improve on their poor disciplinary record after receiving 21 yellow cards and 3 reds during last year’s competition.
Coach
Josip Kuze
Tianjin Teda have appointed the highly-experienced Josip Kuze as the replacement for Arie Haan. The 59-year-old Croatian is widely travelled and has been in charge of the national teams of Rwanda and Albania as well as J.League sides Gamba Osaka and JEF United Chiba during his 30 years as a coach.
Did you know?
Tianjin Teda were the only Chinese club to reach the knockout stage of the AFC Champions League last season. Although Chinese teams did well in the early years of the competition with Dalian Shide and Shenzhen Jianlibao playing in the semi-finals in 2003 and 2005 respectively, none have reached the quarter-finals since Shanghai Shenhua in 2006.
Key Player
Li Weifeng
Nicknamed ‘Big Head’ by Chinese football fans because of his prowess in the air, Li Weifeng is regarded as one of his country’s most solid and dependable defenders. However, the temperament of the 33-year-old has frequently got him into trouble and he was once replaced as China’s national captain after receiving six red cards in a span of 14 months.