Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
How they qualified: Winners – Chinese Super League 2011
Established 1954
Nickname South China Tigers
Home stadium Guangzhou Tianhe Stadium (56,000)
Website www.gzhengdafc.com
Club Honours
Chinese Super League champions 1 – 2011
Previous ACL appearances
Nil
Relegated to the second division three years ago after they became embroiled in a match-fixing scandal, Guangzhou’s football fortunes have risen sharply since they were taken over by the Evergrande Real Estate Group in February 2010.
The new owners spared little expense in reviving the club, bringing in Korean coach Lee Jung-soo and a host of top Chinese talent including international players Gao Lin, Zheng Zhi and Sun Xiang to help them to regain their top-flight status.
Promotion was duly achieved and the club continued to spend heavily in 2011 as they brought in Chinese internationals Yang Hao and Feng Xiaoting, Korean midfielder Cho Won-ho and Argentinian midfielder Diego Conca to help them win the Chinese Super League, a target that they achieved in comprehensive fashion as they finished the season 15 points ahead of runners-up Beijing Guoan.
While Guangzhou have not previously competed in the AFC Champions League, the strong squad that they have assembled in the past two seasons under Lee Jang-soo makes them one of the teams to watch out for in this year’s competition.
Expectations
Guangzhou will look to improve on the poor recent record of Chinese clubs in the AFC Champions League. Since 2006, only Beijing Guoan (2010) and Tianjin Teda (2011) have made it past the group stage with both subsequently going out in the last 16. Getting out of their tough group will be a huge challenge but Guangzhou possess the resources to make a long run if they reach the knockout stage.
Coach
Lee Jang-soo
An assistant coach with Ilhwa Chunma when they won the Asian Club Championship in 1995, Korean Lee Jang-soo has spent the majority of his coaching career with Chinese clubs. He won the FA Cup with Chongqing Lifan and Qingdao Beilaite, was in charge of Beijing Guoan for much of 2009 when they won the Chinese Super League and led Guangzhou to their first league championship last year.
Did you know?
Guangzhou’s league triumph last year was the club’s first major honour in their 57 years of existence. Prior to 2011, their highest finishes in the league came in 1992 and 1994 when they were runners-up. They were also runners-up in the Chinese FA Cup in 1991 when they lost 1-0 to Shanghai in the final.
Key Player
Zheng Zhi
A key figure in Shandong Luneng’s progress to the AFC Champions League quarter-finals a year later, Zheng Zhi spent four years in Europe at Charlton Athletic and Celtic before signing for Guangzhou Evergrande in 2010. The crafty 31-year-old playmaker helped his new club to win promotion from the second division and then skippered them to their first ever league title last year.