Guangzhou FC was relegated after losing 1-4 to Changchun Yatai on December 27.
After 33 matches, Guangzhou FC has only earned 17 points, ranked penultimate in the 2022 Super League rankings. Since August 21, this team has not earned a win.
Guangzhou FC bid farewell to the naturalized players Elkeson, Ricardo Goulart, Alan and Tyias Browning in 2022. Losing a series of good players made the team’s strength rapidly decline. In the squad that lost 1-4 to Changchun Yatai in the 33rd round of the Super League on December 27, all were local players. Wei Shihao, Huang Bowen or Zheng Zhi are the big names left. In it, Zheng Zhi and Huang Bowen both competed and coached.
In the past, Guangzhou FC used to resonate when strongly recruiting good players like Paulinho, Robinho or Jackson Martinez to play. As a result, Guangzhou FC became the most successful team in the history of the Super League with 8 championships in the period from 2011-2019. Only in 2018, this team lost the title to Shanghai SIPG.
In the international arena, Guangzhou FC used to be the most successful Chinese representative in the AFC Champions League. Thanks to the financial resources of Evergrande Group, this club won the AFC Champions League twice (2013, 2015) and once reached the semi-finals of the 2019 season. Coach Marcello Lippi and Luiz Felipe Scolari, two World Cup-winning strategists, helped Guangzhou FC become the power of Asian football during that period.
Goal considers that Guangzhou FC’s relegation is the sad ending of the once king of Chinese football. Once considered the quintessence of the country’s football and a model for other clubs to look forward to, Guangzhou FC is now just a shadow of itself.
Guangzhou FC was the darling of Evergrande Group, before the group collapsed in September 2021. Evergrande Group is deeply in debt (about 300 billion USD). The reason comes from the imbalance of revenue and expenditure when ambitious to invest in many fields. The collapse of Evergrande Group created bad consequences, pushing Guangzhou FC to the brink of bankruptcy.
Duy Luan | 15:35 December 28, 2022
