Guangzhou Apollo
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| Full name | Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao Football Club 广州恒大淘宝足球俱乐部 |
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| Nickname(s) | Southern China Tigers (华南虎) |
| Founded | June 1954 (Semi-professional) 8 January 1993 (Professional) |
| Ground | Tianhe Stadium |
| Capacity | 58,500 |
| Owner |
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| Chairman | Li Yimeng |
| Manager | Luiz Felipe Scolari |
| League | Chinese Super League |
| 2016 | Chinese Super League, 1st |
| Website | Club home page |
| Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao F.C. | |||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 广州恒大淘宝足球俱乐部 | ||||||||||||
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| Traditional Chinese | 廣州恆大淘寶足球俱樂部 | ||||||||||||
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| Southern China Tigers | |||||||||||||
| Chinese | 华南虎 | ||||||||||||
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| Transcriptions | |
|---|---|
| Standard Mandarin | |
| Hanyu Pinyin | Guǎngzhōu Héngdà Táobǎo Zúqiú Jùlèbù |
| Wade–Giles | Kuangchou Hengta T'aopao Tsuch'iu Chülepu |
| Yue: Cantonese | |
| Jyutping | gwong2 zau1 hang4 daai6 tou4 bou2 zuk1 kau4 keoi1 lok6 bou6 |
| Transcriptions | |
|---|---|
| Standard Mandarin | |
| Hanyu Pinyin | Huánánhǔ |
| Wade–Giles | Hua2nan2hu3 |
| Yue: Cantonese | |
| Jyutping | waa4 naam4 fu2 |
Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao Football Club is a professional Chinese football club that participates in the Chinese Super League under the license of the Chinese Football Association. The team is based in Guangzhou, Guangdong, and their home stadium is the Tianhe Stadium which has a seating capacity of 58,500. Their majority shareholders are the Evergrande Real Estate Group (56.71%) and the e-commerce company Alibaba Group (37.81%).
They were founded in 1954, and won several second tier titles before they became professional in 1993. Their results improved, leading to a runners-up spot in China's top tier. Unable to improve upon these results the club went through a period of stagnation and decline before they experienced a brief revival when they won the 2007 second division. In 2009 the club were embroiled in a match-fixing scandal and they were punished with relegation. The Evergrande Real Estate Group decided to purchase the club and pumped significant funds into the team. They immediately won promotion and gained their first top tier title in the 2011 season. The club is the only Chinese football club to win AFC Champions League twice, in 2013 and 2015. The club is also the first Chinese club to participate in the FIFA Club World Cup, making its first appearance in 2013.
According to Forbes, Guangzhou Evergrande is the most valuable football team in China, with a team value of US$282 million and an estimated revenue of US$57 million in 2015. However, the actual figures were total assets CN¥2.009 billion, net assets CN¥524.9 million, revenue CN¥380.6 million and net loss of CN¥953.2 million.
In June 1954, the local Guangzhou sports body founded Guangzhou FC to take part in the recently formed Chinese national football league. They entered the club in the 1955 league season and named Luo Dizhi as their first manager. He guided them to an eighth spot finish in their debut campaign. The league had grown to incorporate a second tier and their debut season performance final standing relegated them to the second division. Guangzhou won the division championship, however the Chinese Football Association decided to restructure the league at the beginning of the 1957 season and Guangzhou were denied promotion. Despite this, Luo Rongman managed the team to win the 1958 second division title; however, the club were unable to gain promotion because this time they went into receivership. They were not re-established until April 1961 and were allowed to take part in the top tier. Back within the top division Guangzhou often struggled within the league and were again relegated to the second tier at the end of the 1963 league season. They remained there until 1966 when the Cultural Revolution halted football in China.
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