We are the Champions: Asia & China – AFC Champions League & Chinese Super League – Guangzhou Evergrande FC

THE CLUB

In June 1954 the local Guangzhou (Canton) sports body founded Guangzhou Football Team, that in 1955 took part in the recently formed Chinese National Football League. In 1966 the Chinese Cultural Revolution halted football in China, but when the Chinese Football League started again, Guangzhou decided not to compete, and to focus on development of their youth team until 1980 when decided to come back to football league pyramid and started playing again in the recently formed Third Division. Guangzhou gained successive promotions until they reached the top tier. In the following years Guangzhou changed property and name few times and went up and down between First and Second level of Chinese football pyramid several times. In February 2010 Guangzhou was relegated from Chinese Super League (first tier) to China League One (second tier) because of a match fixing scandal, and the Club was put up for sale. On 28 February 2010, Evergrande Real Estate Group took over and started pumping a lot of money into the Club, buying few Chinese Internationals. The Club, who changed its name to Guangzhou Evergrande Football Club, immediately came back to Chinese Super League and started winning Championships. They have won so far 3 Chinese Super Leagues, 1 Chinese FA Cup, 1 Chinese Super Cup and 1 AFC Champions League (2013).
The social colour has been red since 2009, before it was blue.

2013 SEASON

This Season has been for sure the best one, because Guangzhou Evergrande Football Club dominated both Chinese Super League, winning it several matchdays in advance, and the AFC Champions League.
In the continental highest competition they won their Group with 11 points and a goal difference of +9, then in the Knockout Stages they smashed Central Coast Mariners (Australia) 5-1 on aggregate, Lekhwiya (Qatar) 6-1 on aggregate, Kashiwa Reysol (Japan) 8-1 on aggregate, and in the Final they faced FC Seoul. The Final wasn’t so easy as the previous rounds, Guangzhou Evergrande FC managed “only” to get two draws, 2-2 in Korea and 1-1 in China, all the goals were scored by Elkeson, but that was enough thanks to the away goal rule. In December are they going to win FIFA Club World Cup as well ?
Guangzhou Evergrande FC almost won ”treble”, losing the FA Cup Final to Guizhou Renhe.

THE STADIUM

Tianhe Stadium.

It’s situated inGuangzhou, and was built in 1987 and has an all seated capacity of 58.500, but not all of them are covered. The average attendance for all the competitions (Championship, Cup and Champions League) is about 40.000. The highest attendance is registered during the local Derby, when Guangzhou Evergrande FC faces Guangzhou R&F FC, coached by Sven-Göran Eriksson.

AFC COMPETITIONS

Guangzhou Evergrande FC has played so far two editions of the AFC Champions League. The first one was in 2012 when they won their Group, overcomed FC Tokyo at the Round of 16, but were narrowly defeated by Al-Ittihad (4-5 on aggregate) at the Quarter-finals. The second one, in 2013 was better, they didn’t win it, they dominated it. They won their Group with 11 points and a goal difference of +9, then in the Knockout Stages they smashed Central Coast Mariners (Australia) 5-1 on aggregate, Lekhwiya (Qatar) 6-1 on aggregate, Kashiwa Reysol (Japan) 8-1 on aggregate, and in the Final they faced FC Seoul. The Final wasn’t so easy as the previous rounds, Guangzhou Evergrande FC managed “only” to get two draws, 2-2 in Korea and 1-1 in China, all the goals were scored by Elkeson, but that was enough thanks to the away goal rule. In December are they going to win FIFA Club World Cup as well ?

THE COACH

Marcello Lippi.

He is 65, is a former Italian defender, who played for Sampdoria, Savona, Pistoiese and Lucchese. But he obtained his biggest achievement as a Manager. Before this current Chinese experience that began in 2012, he managed teams like Atalanta, Napoli, Juventus, FC Inter, and Italian National Team. He won five Serie A titles, one Coppa Italia, four Italian Supercup, one UEFA Champions League, one UEFA Supercup and one Intercontinental Cup with Juventus, two Chinese Super Leagues, one Chinese FA Cup and one ACL Champions League with Guangzhou Evergrande Football Club, and last but not the least, one World Cup with Italy. According to rumors, Chinese Football Association would like to appoint him as manager of the Chinese National Team. He usually doesn’t play a very entertaining and/or offensive football, but a very effective and concrete one, mainly focusing on defense and team spirit. When his teams are one goal up, they are almost impossible to be defeated, while when they are one goal down, they can have several problems to reverse the match. Anyway in China his team has been very prolific.

THE PLAYERS

GOALKEEPERS

Jun Yang, 32
Cheng Zheng, 26
Shuai Li, 31
Jingqi Fang, 20

DEFENDERS

Teng Yi, 23
Peng Zhao, 30
Xiaoting Feng, 28
Young-Gwon Kim, 23 (KOR)
Hongnan Zhang, 22
Xiang Sun, 31
Hao Rong, 26
Linpeng Zhang, 24
Jiaqiang Huang, 23

MIDFIELDERS

Lisheng Liao, 20
Sheng Qin, 27
Zhi Zheng, 33
Xuri Zhao, 27
Bowen Huang, 26
Junyan Feng, 29
Renliang Feng, 25
Long Zheng, 25
Darío Conca, 30 (ARG)
Zhilang Li, 22
Hongjun Shi, 22

FORWARDS

Bo Ni, 24
Muriqui, 27 (BRA),
Lin Gao, 27
Elkeson, 24 (BRA)
Chaosheng Yang, 20

The best and most famous footballers playing for Ghuanzou are with no doubt the three South Americans, Elkeson (24, Brazilian, former Vitoria and Botafogo striker), Muriqui (27, Brazilian, former Vasco da Gama, Paysandu, Avai, Vitoria, Atletico Mineiro striker) and Darío Conca (30, former Argentinian offensive midfielder of  CA River Plate, Universidad Catolica, Vasco da Gama and Fluminense). The last of them was bought in 2011 at the best of his career, and his wage is € 10,6 M per season and makes him the tenth most paid footballer in the world. Anyway at the beginning of 2014 he will come back to Fluminense, because his contract with Guangzhou will expire.
In Europe some people could remember Zhi Zheng (33, current Chinese International, former Charlton  Athletic and Celtic FC midfielder) and Xiang Sun (31, current Chinese International, former PSV and Austria Vienna left back, he’s the first Chinese that has played in UEFA Champions League).
There are several current Chinese Internationals, almost all the regular starters, playing for Ghuanzhou, GK Cheng Zeng, defenders Hao Rong, Peng Zhao, Linpeng Zhang, Xiaoting Feng, midfielders Sheng Qin, Renliang Feng, Bowen Huang, Xuri Zhao, and forward Lin Gao, while Young-Gwon Kim (defender) is a South Korean International.

The captain is Zhi Zheng, that has the same role in the National Team as well. Top scorers of this Season have been Elkeson (24 goals on 28 app.), Darío Conca (14 goals on 26 app.), Muriqui (9 goals on 26 app.) and Lin Gao (8 goals on 28 app.), while Muriqui has been the uncontested top scorer of ACL Champions League (13 goal on 14 app.)

TIPICAL LINEUP

4-2-3-1
Cheng Zheng – Linpeng Zhang, Young-Gwon Kim, Feng Xiaoting, Xiang Sun (Hao Rong) – Zhi Zheng, Bowen Huang (Xuri Zhao) – Lin Gao, Conca, Muriqui – Elkeson

I TIFOSI

Guangzhou Evergrande FC has an home average attendance of about 40.000 spectators per game, the highest in Chinese Super League: it increased in 2010, when Evergrande Real Estate Group made the team much more competitive, while in the previous years it was used to be from 10.000 to a bit more than 20.000, depending on the division where the club was playing in.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcTczL1ENM0