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 based in Haidian, Beijing. The Club was founded in 2000 and is currently owned by the Beijing Institute of Technology (BIT). All the players, including a few foreign students, are full-time students at BIT. Before playing in the professional league, the club had won 4 Chinese Collegiate Championships. Now BIT FC has played in the Chinese Football Association Jia League since 2007.
History
College football powerhouse
Before playing in the professional Jia League, the club 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. The initial financial support came from BIT, entrepreneur sponsorship and alumni donations. All players must continue their studies at the same time and they get 400 RMB per month as a nominal allowance. From 2001 to 2006, the team was awarded the Chinese Collegiate championship 4 times in 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2006, notably being crowned for three consecutive seasons.
The BIT team also represented China in the 2003 Summer Universiade Game and won 7th place. The team was again chosen to play 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 garnered national attention, 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 would have on the students and whether a university should allow its sports teams to participate in a professional leagues.
In the 2007 season, the team finished 11th out of the 13 teams in the league and continued playing in the league for the 2008 season. During the same season, the team was renamed the Beijing Aiguo College Student Football Team (Simplified Chinese: 北京爱国者大学生足球队) due to financial sponsorship from Beijing Huaqi Information Digital Technology Co., Ltd, which owns the Aiguo brand.
In 2009 the club changed its sponsor to GuiRenNiao and changed its name to the "Beijing GuiRenNiao College Student Football Club" (Simplified Chinese: 北京贵人鸟大学生足球俱乐部).
In 2011 the club changed its sponsor to 361 Degrees International Ltd. and was renamed the "Beijing 361 Degrees College Student Football Club" (Simplified Chinese: 北京361°大学生足球俱乐部).
